New York Minute
by Bastille Kain
Summary: Attempting to get back to her time, May Parker is pulled of course by the near apocalypse and winds up in Sunnydale.
1. Chap 1: The Third Hoorah

Author: Kain

Title: New York Minute

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The character's of Buffy, Angel, and any other show that are unfortunate enough to be used here belong to other people.

Setting: Season Four Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Episode Doomed and after. The comic Spider-Girl never existed in this reality of Buffy.

Summary: Attempting to get back to her time, May Parker is pulled of course by the near apocalypse and winds up in Sunnydale.

Pairings: B/S, W/T, A/X

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Is always appreciated. Just try to keep it constructive.

Email: Kain6639@yahoo.com

Archive: If you like it that much, sure. Just be sure to let me know where it's going, and give me the credit, good or bad, for my work.

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Chapter One: The Third Hoorah

The entire base shakes, from the latest in a series of earthquake aftershocks, as if it sits on top of a giant mix master. People are tossed to the floor alongside folders and files and pieces of heavy equipment with almost as much chance to resist.

Soldiers and technicians brace themselves as best they can while the tremors begin to subside. It was the third time in the last few minutes that an aftershock, had rocked them. Although aftershock wasn't an accurate term since they continued to gain in intensity.

Just as everything begins to settle down and orders are being given to verify the bases integrity; checking the power, verifying that cells are still stable, and making a visual inspection of the cells occupants- a streak of grayish lightening flashes across the ceiling.

A fingernail size speck of darkness coalescing upon the concrete surface.

An instant later a second and a third, a fourth and a fifth, a sixth and seventh zip and zap along the ceiling. One right after another as the speck elongates, flexing and rippling. Looking like a dark maw gaping wide open.

For a bare instant everyone; soldier, technician, support personal- stand transfixed by the bulging hole of nothingness hovering above their heads. Just as quickly, as if snapping out of a spell, everyone breaks rushing this way and that. To the casual observer it would appear that chaos has broken out in the base and everyone is running hither dither when in reality everyone is going to were they need to be.

All non essential personal make a bee line to get out of harms way while soldiers rush to arm themselves with the latest high tech weaponry that the United States Government has provided for their use.

Shouts and orders ring throughout the vast underground complex as command try to restore order to the pandemonium. A sense of uncertainty, fear, and dread lance through nearly everyone as the dark hole seems to pulse with a life of its own.

While the soldiers arm themselves and most everyone rushes to get away before the action explode a single being is spit out of the dark whole, hitting the hard concrete floor with a solid thud, while the patch of darkness snaps close upon itself with a thunderous crack.

The person is small, lithe, and dressed in a red and blue form fitting head to toe bodysuit with a silver web pattern criss crossing the material. They lie on the floor unmoving, moaning, or possibly mumbling softly, but no is close enough to hear.

A dozen hard face men, with guns at the ready, spin around- some dropping to a knee, some standing tall, as all of them easily hone in on the petite figure lying on the ground. Several of the men blink. One of them muttering, "is that a Spider-Man costume?" Others begin moving closer to the creature lying on the floor trusting their fellow soldiers to take appropriate action if the thing should make any sudden or threatening moves.

"Next time I'll remember to avoid the Time Square chilli dogs," a soft feminine voice murmurs sarcastically as May Parker begins to shift slowly, painfully.

"Don't move!" A harsh voice commands as several of the commandos fingers tighten on the trigger of the weapons.

The slight tingle that May had been feeling in the base of her skull kicks up half a dozen notches with the soldiers readiness, perhaps even eagerness to open fire. Her reactions are as instinctive and natural as they have always been, if a little sluggish from the strain of travelling back up the temporal shoot.

With only a minimal concentration her fingers latch onto the floor like only her, her father, Kane, and who knows how many others can. She pulls her body up into a hand stand a moment before shoving herself seven feet in the air. Spinning in a tight circle she shoots a thin web line to the ceiling high over head. Use the momentum she created she easily swings upwards attaching herself to the ceiling.

By the time the guns have been re-trained and their burst of high voltage energy fired at the spot in the air she had occupied for a brief instant, she's already on the ceiling being able to move faster then they can follow. "I don't want to seem critical here, but you guys are way too tense. You should try to relax a little," she quips as the rifles are once again brought to bear on her position.

Waiting until the energy streams are more then half way to her before springing out of the way she covers nearly twenty-five feet in a single bound.

"Where is it?"

"Over there."

Looking down at them May playfully remarks, "maybe you guys should think about cutting back on the caffeine. Only have one cup in the mornings, or maybe switch to decaff."

"Get it!" Another soldier shouts. "I want that hostile in a cage now!"

"Hostile?" May murmurs worriedly as half the commandos rush towards her while the other half continue to lay down their long distance fire that she easily skips and skitters away from. Its a term she has never heard before to describe a mutant, but it does fit with other racist remarks hurled by small minded bigots whose wardrobes consist of olive green military fatigues.

Trusting her spider-sense to keep her ahead of the barrage May searches for a way out. "If someone would just point me towards the exit I'm sure we can forgot all about this little incident."

The chamber was a vast circle at least the size of a football field with a pit in its center. Several doors line the wall to her right, but without any indication as to what lay beyond she was hesitant to try them. On the left was a open corridor that she couldn't see down, but her spider-sense was doing nearly as many flips as she was so she thought she would steer clear of it if at all possible. Ahead of her, all the way across the chamber was a stairwell, a solid steel door at the top of the stairs, with a sign over head proclaiming it the emergency exit.

"Never mind," she calls out to the soldiers below, "I think I can find my own way out."

She didn't know whether this is a legitimate Government sanctioned installation or not. If it was then she figures she is probably breaking about a hundred or so different laws; local, state, and federal just being inside the building and she didn't really feel like adding assault charges as well.

Then again she didn't feel like getting zapped either. It didn't look like it would be all that pleasant of an experience. Fortunately she had plenty of webbing thanks to her father. It wasn't quite as good as what she is to, but she couldn't really show her father the improved formula he was suppose to come with in a few more years all on his own.

Now that she was back in her own time though getting more would be easy.

Continuing to be guided by her spider-sense May weaves her way through the hail of high voltage fire with a dazzling display of ariel acrobatics that would have left most people stunned witnessing them, if they could follow her movements, as she crosses the eighty feet to the door in high speed spurts and starts that change direction for no reason that anyone below can discern.

During the course of her zigging and zagging five guns, and the hands holding them wind up incased in webbing. Two commandos have their feet glued to the floor by the incredibly adhesive webbing.

Seeing her destination three men quickly race towards the emergency exit in an attempt to block her escape. Even with their chemically enhanced body's and her sporadic movements they can't keep up with her.

Landing on the steel hand rail facing the soldiers below she smiles under her mask. "I'd say it's been a blast guys," she says then back flips. Sticking to the wall above the door, "but my parents would ground me for lying," she adds before yanking the door open and bolting through it as only she can.

Not having to worry about blaster fire May bounds up the stairs bouncing off the walls, floors, and ceiling to equal effect.

By the time the door burst open less then ten seconds later she has already cleared six floors. As the soldiers sweep the first landing with a cool, but hurried efficiency and the precision of trained professionals. Without hesitation they quickly, but cautiously race up the stairwell. Just because the hostile hadn't attacked anyone below didn't mean it would hold back when it couldn't find the hidden exit.

As they reach the second floor landing they hear the slow screech of metal from above. Abandoning caution they rush up the stairwell knowing that just about everyone who lives in Lowell Hall is down below and that anyone who is up on the upper floors has clearance. Reaching the tenth floor landing, the fourth and top floor of Lowell Hall, they find the door crumpled slightly, pulled in towards them. Not a lot but enough for the slim hostile to fit through.

"Figures," May mumbles from not very far away. Her surprise at finding out she was in a collage dorm, a male dorm, didn't last very long. Her view through the rooms sole window was of the quiet country side cloaked in darkness.

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If I'm in New York I'm a long way from the city which means I'll probably be able to travel a lot easier as May Parker then Spider-Girl. Unfortunately I'm wearing my only set of clothes. Looking around the room she sighs, _I hope the guy isn't a giant_.

Making a quick search of the room she finds she seems to have caught a break. The guy has a girlfriend that keeps a small over night bag here with a fresh change of clothes. Nothing fancy a simple desert brown blouse, faded jeans, and pair of white open toe sandals. Feeling only a little bit of guilt she slips the shoulder strap over her head and settles the bag across her back.

Pushing the window up she shoves the screen out, but makes sure it doesn't fall to the ground. She slips out the open window, then slides it back down, replaces the screen, and scampers up the side of the building. Reaching the lip she turns, spots a target, and shoots off a strand of webbing.

Swinging down several people spot her as she sweeps past. Pointing her out to their friends they stare and gawk as she fires off another web line and swings in a wide looping arc. Reaching the apex she releases her web line flips high into the air. Gliding another ten feet she lands on the side of a flag pole.

With a quick scan of the area she jumps high into the air, shoots another web line to the lip of the closest building heading in what looks like the direction of the city. As she swings across she spots a box trailer heading the same way she's going. Deciding to save on webbing she does a little flip and drops onto its roof.

Buffy grimaces slightly at Spike's lame reply to Riley's question and his bad Texas accent. She was mildly surprised that Xander hadn't vehemently denied Spike's claim at being an old pal. The very last thing she wants to do is explain Spike's presence here to her boyfriend.

Not that she had an explanation. At least not a good one.

"Hey, um," Xander mumbles as he runs his fingers through his hair. "We're going to get going. Have to make sure Billy Bob doesn't stay out past his curfew."

Riley nods still trying to look inconspicuous. "It was nice to meet you Billy Bob. Willow, Xander," he finishes stiffly.

"I'll see you later," Buffy whispers to Willow as she walks past followed closely by Xander and Spike.

Riley watches them go, standing back out of their way. He gives a deep sigh as he turns back towards Buffy. Before he can say anything he feels a little jolt as his beeper goes off. "Damn," he grumbles pulling the annoying piece of equipment off his utility belt. Taking a quick look at the small, lighted screen he sighs again. "I gotta go," he says looking up at her.

Buffy frowns slightly wanting to spend a little time alone with her boyfriend. "Anything you need help with?" She asks hopefully.

"I wish I could but..." He starts off hedging slightly.

"Its classified," Buffy finishes for him.

Riley nods again as he says, "yeah. Are you sure you're going to be okay?" He inquires slipping the beeper back into its holster.

Buffy shrugs saying, "I'll do a sweep."

He blinks at her response slightly surprised by her answer. "After that?"

"Just because there was an apocalypse scheduled doesn't mean the vampires went on vacation," Buffy jokes lightly.

"And you're just going to go kill them? Like that?" He questions skeptically.

She rolls her eyes at him lightly. "Sorry, my cape and leotards are at the cleaners."

"That's not what I meant," Riley replies.

"I know," she responds with a little quirk of a smile on her lips. Turning she takes a few steps in the direction of the exit.

Riley follows suit while asking, "don't you ever use any gear, body armor, or anything like that?"

Buffy shakes her head. "Its just me and my stakes, sometimes a sword or a crossbow. An axe every now and then. There was this one time I got to use a rocket launcher. That was pretty cool," she finishes in an excited voice.

They walk a little ways in silence while Riley looks down at her warily as they continue to make their way out of the ruins. "Sounds like an interesting story. You'll have to tell it to me sometime."

"But you gotta go?"

"Right," he says with a nod as they come to the entrance. "I'll call you as soon as I can," he adds leaning in for a quick kiss. Pulling back he turns and heads off towards the campus moving with the quick stride of someone in a hurry that shouldn't be trifled with.

Buffy watches him go with a wistful look. She wishes they could have spent a little time together, but like she said the vampires weren't just going to go away because there was an almost apocalypse. So it was probably better this way.

She wouldn't feel guilty in the morning.

"You said it was small?" Professor Welsh asks her hip leaning against the front side of her desk.

"Five two to five four," Bradley answers with a sharp nod of his head. "A hundred and fifteen pounds. Trim, athletic..."

"And wearing a Spider-Man costume," Welsh states.

He nods again just before saying, "plus it had the ability to cling to smooth surfaces. The walls, the ceiling."

"Just like the comic book character. Can I assume you're going to blame your inability to capture the hostile on some preternatural ability it has to sense danger and avoid it?" She inquires too sweetly.

"No, mam. We weren't able to respond quickly enough. It was fast, swift, extremely agile and acrobatic. It could wait to the last possible second before reacting to an attack. It was also able to expel some type of adhesive the technicians are studying," he responds. After a moment he adds, "it felt like it was toying with us mam."

"Or testing our defenses," she wonders to herself despite speaking out loud.

May slumps on the concrete bench outside an open air coffee shop dubbed the Expresso Pump. A discarded newspaper held loosely in her slack hands

It hadn't worked. Possibly her one chance to get back home, get back to her time and it was a bust. Instead of being back in New York she finds herself in California. Instead of being in twenty nineteen it was six days before Christmas nineteen ninety-nine.

Reed Richards told her it might not work. That she might become stranded between the two points in time. He had never said anything about her being dropped off in California though.

Her only option was a cross country trek back to New York and having the good doctor try to get her back to her time once again.

Then again she could probably just give the Fantastic Four a call and see if one of them could come out and pick her up. After all they had to be listed in the yellow pages, and they had the cool transportation.

She snorts derisively as she imagines all the jokes being made at her expense if it ever got out. She would be the laughing stock of crime fighters the world over.

It wasn't like she should care. She isn't planning on staying in the business anyway.

Crumpling the paper into a ball she shoots it at the trash can some twenty feet away. It drops in dead center.

With a regretful sigh she stands up as she pushes the sleeves of the light colored blouse up to her elbows. Like she had thought the clothes were a little big on her, although the jeans are a little snug. Which she finds a little surprising considering her own lithe, athletic frame. Unless the girl who owned them was built like a twig she couldn't see how someone could wear these pants.

Basketball. That was what she should be doing. It is the one thing she truly loves. It is the one thing she is good at, better then good.

She excels at the game. Never makes a mistake. When she was on the court she was in a world all her own and nobody was even close to her.

And that had been before the emergence of her powers.

Or had her powers always been there, guiding her, giving her that little extra spurt when she needed it. Allowing her to always hit the open shot or person or navigate her way through traffic without ever getting touched.

In the end it didn't matter. She had given it up. Walked away from the game she loves without an explanation or a backward glance.

Her actions had upset a lot of people, but it was the right thing for her to do.

May looks up at the night sky as she walks down the sidewalk. Her eyes taking in the Christmas lights hanging from the lips of the store awnings or framing the windows along with taking in any number of other decorations reminding the people of the festive season. As if people need to be reminded.

Then again she was having a hard time accepting the fact it is the middle of December and its not even what she would call nippy. For a girl used to winters in New York this is almost balmy.

Of course she still need to find a place to spend the night. Plus the grumbling in her stomach was letting her know it was past feeding time.

Her spider-sense kicks back up alerting her of a nearby threat. Nothing aimed directly at her, but something that is dangerous.

There is something about this town which had her spider-sense constantly buzzing in the back of her skull. At first she thought it was from being surrounded by a bunch of gun toting commandos, but it hadn't gone away after getting out of their whacky frat house.

It had stayed with her wherever she went in this freaky Mayberryesque town.

She should just keep going. Ignore it. Walk on by. Let somebody else handle it. She was giving up the whole crime fighting, superhero gig anyway.

With a quick look around to make sure nobody is looking May lets out a disgruntle breath before leaping nearly twenty feet to the side of the building, slipping her sandals off while in the air. She latches onto the brick surface with ease and scales to the top of the six story building in only seconds.

By the time she slips over the edge of the building she already has her recently acquired overnight bag open and shoving the sandals inside while pulling out her gear. It takes less then thirty seconds to change into costume and settle the over night bag on her back once more.

Using her spider-sense like radar she quickly hones in on the danger. An alley away one a building away. Only there wasn't anything dangerous in the alley between the two buildings. Just some couple making out.

The guy looks like he was trying to give the girl a serious hickey. Nothing dangerous in that.

She looks around the alley again but there wasn't anything. It actually looks clean when she compares it to what she's used to in New York.

And her eyes just keep drifting back to the couple making out. Only making a closer inspection the woman looks more like she is trying to push him off, not pull him closer. Her eyes seem to be filled with pain.

"Excuse me," She calls out from above them as she slips over the edge of the building and begins to scale down the side head first. She needs to draw the man's attention away from the woman before she can make her move. "I was wondering if either of you could tell me if there's a... Holy shit," she blurts as the man lifts his disfigured, blood smeared face to gaze at her with a pair of baleful amber eyes.

Seeing a new, and possible dangerous threat the large, dark hair vampire shoves his dainty morsel into the wall.

May tries to remember if her dad ever mentioned anything about vampires to her, if that was even what this guy was. More then likely he's just some pour screwed up mutant in need of some serious help. Or a serious butt kicking.

Not for the first time she wishes the two of them hadn't spent most of their time fighting with each other about her choice to use her powers, to become a crime fighter like he had. Unfortunately they had and even after he finally accepted her decision he never really talked about his own exploits.

So she was stuck with what she knew about vampires from horror movies. Supernaturally strong, fast. Some can turn to mist or fog or bats, control the weather, wolves, rats. They can mesmerize people.

The only way to stop them are wooden stake through the heart, decapitation, fire, sunlight, holy water. None of which are readily available for her use. Not that she would use most of them anyway, considering what she is facing is a mutant with a sick blood fetish.

In which case could she kill him? Should she? He is human, according to the courts if not most of the people. What right did she have deciding if someone should live or die.

"Move on if you want to live a long life," he growls savagely as he stares up at her.

May shakes her head slightly as she says, "but then you'd kill the girl and I'd feel guilty and I really don't do guilt well. Leads to blemishes and blackheads and I'd have to wear a bag over my head. I'm thinking I wouldn't look to good with a bag over my head. Nobody would be able to pick out my natural highlights."

"Hell," The vampire snarls as he grabs a trash can lid and whips it at her. "You talk more then the damn slayer," he adds as May leaps out of the way, "and say less," he finishes while watching her land on the building opposite the first one.

"Slayer?" She says questioningly as she rebounds off the building to land crouched at his feet wondering why the term slayer sounds so familiar to her. He goes to swing down at her, but she springs up faster then anything he has ever seen before as she slugs him with light uppercut.

He staggers back a step as he gives his head a rough shake. A moment later his lips form a vicious leer. "I actually got a huge collection of Spider-Man comics. I'm gonna love adding that costume to it once I've stripped it from your corpse," he shouts taking a massive swing at her.

May easily ducks under the wild haymaker. She shoots a web line from each wrist shooter sneering both his feet. Flipping backward just as he tries to drive her into the ground she pulls his feet out from under him. He hits the ground as she lands on her feet.

With another growl he easily shreds the webbing on his feet then flips back up to his own feet. He turns reaching for one of the fire escapes support beams. Another web line latches onto his wrist and she yanks his arm back.

He grabs hold with his left hand as she pulls him around. The piece of steel snaps like a rotted two by four with the force he exerts on it. "I'm going to knock your head clean off!" He shouts taking another swing at her head.

"Don't you think its a little early in our relationship for death threats?" She inquires doing a series of back flips to avoid his wild swings making note of his increase in speed compared to his first swipe at her.

Then while he's overbalanced from his last strike towards her, she springs forward. Her right foot hitting the top of his head and pushing off, sending him sprawling face first to the hard pavement, while she lands on the fire escape.

"Couldn't we start off with something easy and work our way up to the whole I want to suck your blood?" She questions with little air quotes and a bad accent as he rolls back to his feet. "Like maybe we could insult each other's fashion sense. You could tell how red and blue spandex isn't in, which is kind of hard to believe considering the season, and I can tell you how retro that outfit is, like something someone back in the nineties would wear. Oh right, we're still in the nineties," she murmurs hating how easy the jokes just slip out.

He hurls the chunk of steel at her hoping something would shut her up. As she slips out of the projectiles way he jumps back to his feet. As he looks up at where she had been he doesn't see her.

"You don't really think you're a vampire do you?" She asks from directly behind him. He jumps forward and up covering about ten feet as he manages to turn himself around to face her. "Because I'm just not seeing it," she continues. "I mean where's the fog and the mist and turning yourself into a bat? How about a wolf?" She finishes excitedly.

"You've read Dracula too many times," he snarls cautiously stalking her.

May shudders slightly as she says, "actually I've never read it. Don't really care for the whole horror genre. Give me a good Sci-fi flick any day of the week, I mean Locus totally out did himself with the last Star Wars block buster."

He stops moving, Giving her a slight frown as he says, "really. I didn't care for the Phantom Menace that much." She sighs softly realizing it would be just her luck to come across a Sci-fi buff.

Her spider-sense goes off a bare moment before he launches himself at her. Without hesitation she ducks and punches at the same time driving her fist into his stomach. He staggers back a step but doesn't fall and May wonders just how much she is going to have to hit him with to stop him.

Obviously the guy, mutant she supposes, has deluded himself into believing he is a vampire. Dangerous as that might make him she still has a responsibility not to hurt him too much while bringing him in.

He growls as he rushes back at her throwing a straight punch at her face. May avoids the punch doing a simple handless cartwheel. He lashes out with a roundhouse kick while she is still in the air. She twist slightly, her hands slapping onto his thigh and knee propelling her upward, flipping over his head.

Becoming more frustrated with each passing second he whirls around. His fist passing through where May's head had just been. She blocks his follow up kick with ease and he lets out an animalistic roar.

Still holding back most of her strength she slams both fist into his chest into his chest pushing him back a step. She fires off a series of rapid fire, high impact punches; jabs, hooks, crosses, uppercuts as her spider-sense guides her movements with unerring accuracy. All the while she continues to avoid his counter attacks.

It becomes obvious to her that while he can't match her speed and agility she can't match his physical strength. She drives him back or wherever she wants him. Knocking him around as she wails on him to seemingly no effect. As the minutes drag by May holds back less and less. With a hard left hook she sends him flying into a stack of wooden crates.

With a quick glance at the unmoving form lying in the pile of debris May gives a brief sigh as she mumbles, "about time." A moment later she leaps to the other end of the alley where the girl was still lying slumped against the buildings back wall.

"Damn," she murmurs as she silently curses herself for getting so caught up in dealing with Fang-Man she supposes, she had nearly forgotten about the girl he had been drinking from. Squatting down she checks her pulse and looks the wound over. All and all it wasn't that bad.

From behind her she hears the clatter of the debris as its pushed aside. May whirls around just in time to see him brushing off his clothes. As he finishes dusting off his sleeve he looks at her with a cruel smile. "So you can fight, but you still hit like a girl," he informs her.

May stands up, a scowl under her mask as she mutters, "God. What's it gonna take to keep you down?"

Suddenly his face contorts in a mask of startlement and pain. A heartbeat later his body begins to disintegrate before her eyes, turning to powder and falling to the hard pavement. Again it nags at something in the back of her mind.

His body turning to dust reveals the presence of a petite, blonde hair woman no taller then herself. She's wearing a white turtleneck sweeter, brown suede jacket, light blue jeans, and black platform boots.

She had the look of someone doing a chore. Like taking out the trash or washing the dishes. Like she was doing something that was mundane.

There's something about her that looks so familiar, like she has seen her all over the place, but she can't remember where or when.

Keeping a careful eye on her May sees the sudden curiosity flicker in the blonde's hazel eyes. A second later Buffy says, "most of the time a nice sharp piece of wood, generally referred to as a stake by those of us in the trade, through the heart does the trick."

"You killed him!" May suddenly blurts out as she overcomes her shock. She couldn't believe the blonde had just shoved a stake through his heart or that she was so blase about it. Or that he turned to dust either. As far as she knew people, even mutants, didn't do that.

"Its why I get the nifty title slayer," Buffy remarks casually. The fight between her and the vampire had been an extremely one sided affair. He couldn't touch her and she was able to hit him at will. Buffy wasn't even sure if she could match that kind of speed and agility. Fortunately the girl had no killer instinct. "And for the record. vampires are already dead, or undead actually," she finishes with a little shrug.

"You're not buying into that whole vampire crap too?" May demands incredulously looking Buffy over. "Next thing I know you're going to say you're Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Buffy's somewhat inquisitive gaze turns into an icy scowl. "You got some problem my name Ms. I'm in the middle of an identity crisis?"

"Whatever," May mutters with a quick little back flip on to the wall. She lands some ten feet up facing Buffy. The tiny slayer stares at her with wide eyes as she wasn't expecting her to rally be able to stick to walls. "Guy took a bite of the girl. She could probably use a doctor," she finishes. With a quick look around she spots her next target. "And for the record. The name's Spider-Girl," she tells Buffy as she leaps into the air. She shoots out a web line that connects with the lip of the building.

She swings up and over with a high arc and a tight flip that sends her even higher. Buffy sees her shoot out another web line and disappears swinging further downtown.

Her eyes are still wide as she looks back down. She thought she could follow her, maybe even catch up with her. Find out what the hell is going on.

All she would have to do is leave an unconscious and bleeding woman in an alley. During the middle of the night. In Sunnydale. It would be tantamount to murder and that was something she wasn't prepared to do.

Besides Buffy has a feeling that she'll be seeing more of this Spider-Girl in the days to come. People who run around wearing red and blue form fitting spandex body suits usually aren't the type to blend in very well.

They tend to stick out like sore a thumb.

May slips into the house through the unlocked, second floor bathroom window. Being as small as she is comes in handy for her more often then not. Like being able to fit through a window half the size of a standard one.

The house was empty. She knew that even without searching it. Her instincts, her spider-sense, told her that much.

Pulling her mask off her head she wonders about her spider-sense. She hadn't even noticed it around blondie, but the constant buzz she had been that had been ringing in her head wasn't there.

Everything had been blessedly silent.

It wasn't until she had gotten a good fifty feet away from her that it had kick back in like a light switch being flipped on. It was almost like she's the calm in the center of the storm. A flame that burns away the night.

She gives her head a small shake wishing her father had talked to her about stuff like this. Not the time travel, but whether there are people who can effect her spider-sense. If simply being in certain person's presence can just turn it off?

Unfortunately her dad isn't here. She has no way of getting in touch with him and even if she did its not like she can come out and ask him. Its still a good two years before she was going to be born and she isn't going to do anything that could possibly affect that.

There was something more to it then that though. A nagging feeling tugging at the back of her mind. From the name of the town, to the underground military base with the frat house for a blind, to the vampire, to the blonde with the pointy stick and the killer fashion sense.

There is something so familiar about it all that she can practically taste it.

Pulling open the bathroom door she steps into the hallway. There was a short banister directly in front of her, a wall on its right and a flight of stairs to its left. There was an open door to her left on the short end of the hallway.

A quick look inside reveals a made queen size bed pressed tight over against the short wall. The room is neat and tidy. A stationary bike was back against the far wall. The room had the air of belonging to an older woman.

Turning the other way she walks down the length of the hall.

She already knew what is going on even if she doesn't want to admit it. Its the reason why she is here in this house in the first place. She had made a reference to it to the blonde back in the alley.

But that couldn't be it.

That was just some old television show that ended before she was even born. If she was really in that reality it means she did more then just travel up the temporal shoot. It means her train hopped its tracks and landed on a different set of rails.

Which means she is really screwed.

Only that shouldn't have been possible. True she wasn't the scientist that Reed Richards, or even her dad is, but she understood enough of what Richards was saying to know she should have just traveled straight up the shoot.

Which is why she won't acknowledge the truth. She would rather convince herself that there is a town called Sunnydale in southern California. That in the town of Sunnydale there is a sixteen thirty Revello drive.

Pushing open the first door she peers inside the room. Its full of crates and paintings and other works of art all in a jumble making it look more like a store room then a bedroom.

Moving on to the next room she pushes that one open as well. From the way the room is decorated its easy for May to tell the room belongs to a girl. It could almost be hers. Aside from there being far too many stuff animals, the color scheme, and the boy band posters tacked to the wall.

Stepping inside the room she gives it a closer inspection. It almost has the feel of being abandoned. Like the person who lives here hasn't occupied the room in awhile.

A picture on the dresser catches her eye. Four people caught in a still shot. Every one of them with a carefree smile plastered over their faces. Two guys, two girls, one of whom was the blonde from earlier tonight. Her hair was straight in the picture as well as having more of a golden shine compared to the curly, dirty blonde style she is sporting now.

The other girl is a redhead. She has her arms draped over the shoulders of a young man with blue hair. Despite his bright, laughing eyes she could almost see something feral in his face.

Either that or she is projecting again.

The last person in the picture is a tall brunette. Everyone looks happy even with a touch of anxiety lining their face.

Not for the first time she wishes she knew more about the show then its name. She had never watched much t.v. though and when she did it was either a police drama or the latest Sci-fi epic. Old horror shows that live on in syndication just never popped up on her radar.

The only reason she knew what she did was because she had the misfortune of answering a trivia pursuit question wrong when she was thirteen. Then got lectured the rest of the night, and for weeks that followed, by a rabid fan of the show. Who just happened to be her best friend at the time.

So she knows little tid bits like sixteen thirty Revello drive. Best friend was named after a tree; Oak or Birch or maybe it was Pine. Her other friend had a weird name as well but the only part she can remember is Lavelle or Laville or something like it. One of them was dating a werewolf. Buffy herself had dated two vampires, had a kid with one of them. There was something about a soldier in there as well, not a very well like character from what she can remember. There was a sister that wasn't a sister with a god chasing after her. Someone had a brain tumor that could have been cured any number of ways; a demon whose blood has rejuvenative properties. A meditation technique that allows a person to heal their own body.

Again she wishes she had actually paid attention to her friend back then. Or that she could remember more then just a handful of meaningless facts.

May places the picture back on the dresser. Turning slightly she notices the alarm clock on the night stand by the bed. It reads 2:05 a.m.

Which meant five o'clock on the east coast. Still too early to call anyone up. She didn't see any reason to irritate the people she was going to be asking, pleading with, begging is probably the more accurate term, to help her get back home.

A few hours that she has nothing to do.

She gives the bed a longing look. It was only a few hours. Four at the most. Get a little sleep. Take a fresh look at things in the morning.

Sitting down on the bed she turns the radio on. Adjusting the tuner she brings in a station playing music that resembles what she likes. Turning the volume down so it sounds like a soft whisper carried on the wind she lays back on the bed.

After a few deep breathes her eyes slip close, her body loses most of the tension it has been holding, as she almost relaxes falling into a light sleep.

________________________________________________________________________

New York Minute - Don Henley

Harry got up dressed all in black  
Went down to the station and he never came back  
They found his clothing scattered somewhere down the track  
And he won't be down on Wall Street in the morning  


He had a home the love of a girl  
But men get lost sometimes as years unfurl  
One day he crossed some line  
And he was too much in this world  
But I guess it doesn't matter anymore  


In a New York Minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York Minute  
Things can get pretty strange  
In a New York Minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York Minute  


Lying here in the darkness I hear the sirens wail  
Somebody going to emergency, somebody's going to jail  
If you find somebody to love in this world  
You better hang on tooth and nail  
The wolf is always at the door  


In a New York Minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York Minute  
Things can get a little strange  
In a New York Minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York Minute  


And in these days  
When darkness falls early  
And people rush home  
To the ones they love  
You better take a fool's advice  
And take care of your own  
One day they're here;  
Next day they're gone  


I pulled my coat around my shoulders  
And took a walk down through the park  
The leaves were falling around me  
The groaning city in the gathering dark  
On some solitary rock  
A desperate lover left his mark,  
"Baby, I've changed. Please come back."  


What the head makes cloudy  
The heart makes very clear  
The days were so much brighter  
In the time when she was here  
But I know there's somebody somewhere  
Make these dark clouds disappear  
Until that day, I have to believe  
I believe, I believe  


In a New York Minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York Minute  
You can get out of the rain  
In a New York Minute  
Everything can change  
In a New York Minute

________________________________________________________________________

The Third Hoorah - Jethro Tull

Hoorah!

  
WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
Sweet child, how do you do today?

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
Sweet child, how do you do today?

  
When your back's to the wall,   
and your luck is your all,   
then side with whoever you may.   
Seek that which within lies waiting to begin   
the fight of your life that is everyday.   
Dance with the WarChild, the WarChild --- Hoorah.   
Dance with the WarChild, the WarChild --- Hoorah. 

  
WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
Sweet child, how do you do today?

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
Sweet child, how do you do today?

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
Sweet child, how do you do today?

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
Sweet child, how do you do today?

  
In the heart of your heart, there's the tiniest part   
of an urge to live to the death ---   
With a sword on your hip and a cry on your lips   
to strike life in the inner child's breast.   
Dance with the WarChild, the WarChild --- Hoorah.   
Dance with the WarChild, the WarChild --- Hoorah. 

  
WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
sweet child, how do you do today?

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
sweet child, how do you do today? 

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
sweet child, how do you do today? 

WarChild, dance the days and nights away ---   
sweet child, how do you do today?


	2. Chap 2: Right Now pt1

__

Chapter Two: Right Now

Bright lights splash across the white garage doors as the slate colored Jeep Cherokee pulls into the driveway at Sixteen-Thirty Revello Drive. The sun is just beginning to peak over the horizon, but there are still more then enough shadows for the daring vampire to hide in. Joyce takes a long, careful look around her house, the houses alongside and even the homes to either side of them. She didn't bother with her mirrors because vampires wouldn't show up in them anyway. She did however turn around and take another long look out the back of her Jeep.

It would be more of a concern for her if she had some reason to believe a vampire had somehow managed to get a hold of her itinerary so they could be waiting outside her home. She knows it is an irrational fear, but it is one that keeps intruding in her thoughts.

Slipping the gear shifter into park she kills the engine and shuts off the headlights. Plucking the keys out of the ignition she then reaches over into the passenger seat and grabs hold of her large hand bag.

She can feel the sense of dread surging back up again as she pushes the door open and gets a face full of fresh, cool morning air. With a quick glance from the tailgate to the front door Joyce does a quick calculation of how much added time would be needed to unlock the tailgate, collect her bags and lug them to the front door.

Up the road a loud, clattering clang, followed by a sharp hissing shriek causes Joyce to give a slight start as her head whips around to where she thought the sound emanated from.

"I'll come out later," she murmurs getting out of her car as she looks to the sun, "in a couples hours and get my bags," she finishes swinging the driver side door close. It latches with a soft clack that she isn't even aware of as she makes a beeline for her front door, not running, but definitely not dawdling either.

By the time Joyce reaches the front door she has her house key extended, out in front of her. It slides smoothly into the keyhole. She twists, feels the lock turn, and turns the door handle. A moment later she's pushing the door open, slips in-between the small opening, and swings it shut behind her.

Collapsing back she leans against the heavy wooden door, a sense of relief flooding through her as she tries to catch her breath. A breath that she hadn't even noticed that she had lost until this moment.

At times she really wishes Buffy had never, ever told her about vampires, demons, or any of the other things she has. That she could go back to being the unsuspecting rube she had been a couple of years earlier. They had been much simpler times then, when she wasn't aware of everything that went on in the world.

It didn't happen very often, she enjoys the honest, open relationship her and Buffy have now. But occasionally, like tonight, for no apparent reason, it just gets to be a bit much for her.

She gives a slight shake of her head as she pushes herself off of the door. Shifting her shoulder slightly she lets her large shoulder bag drop to the floor right next to the coat rack.

Walking down the short hall to check if anyone had left any messages on the answering machine. Seeing the little red light is still dark, Joyce sighs softly before heading back the way she just came and makes the short climb up the stairs leading to the second floor and her bedroom. Planning on grabbing a quick shower, hoping it will help wake her up a little.

She stops upon reaching the landing. There is something out of place. A feeling that something is wrong, something is different in the house from when she left three days ago.

There's a slight breeze. The bathroom door is open and Joyce doesn't think that she left it open, but she isn't sure. Taking a few steps down the hall in the direction of the bathroom, she slows even more as she spots Buffy's bedroom door standing ajar.

Her eyes narrow suspiciously. That door she knows she had left closed, but she also know it was possible that Buffy had stopped by while she was out of town. Either to raid the fridge, or she could have wanted to, or needed to pick up some clothes. It was also possible her daughter might have done a load or two of laundry. It is possible.

Buffy would never be considered tidy by anyone's standards and leaving her bedroom door open would be just like her. Leaving her radio on however, wouldn't be like her at all.

Stopping completely just before stepping into the open door frame, she closes her eyes and lets out a deep breath. Her gut is telling her to go back downstairs, pick up the phone and call Buffy so she can come over and take car of the possible, would be intruder. All the while another side keeps telling her that its nothing, that is was just Buffy's overly forgetful nature.

Opening her eye Joyce steps around, staring through the doorway and into the dimly lit room. Soft rays of warm sunlight flow through the slitted blinds, covering the eastern facing window, bathing the room in its warm glow.

On the twin size bed, just to the side of the window, with the covers pulled up high so only a shock of dark brown hair is sticking out from underneath the blankets, is a small person. Its hard for her to judge, with them being covered up head to toe, but the person doesn't look any bigger then Buffy in height, girth, or general size.

Without noticing her eyes drift to the nightstand next to the bed. The alarm clock there read ten minutes to six and the alarm is set.

Her gaze shifts back to the bed holding the unusual... She didn't know if the term burglar fit with the person sleeping in her daughters bed. She wonders if the crime should be called breaking, entering, and sleeping.

Again Joyce realizes she should go back downstairs and call Buffy. Again she doesn't though. She stands there for several minutes watching the sleeping figure trying to figure out what to do.

She didn't know a lot about criminals in general, or thieves in particular, but she thought it would be highly unusual for one to take a nap in a house, even an empty house. Letting another soft sigh pass her lips she takes a step into the room.

Three strides and Joyce is at the side of the bed. As she reaches down to wake the person, a young, sleep filled, husky, but definitely feminine voice drifts up to her. "Just five more minutes mom," she murmurs while snuggling in deeper, pulling the blankets tighter around herself. "I promise I won't be late for school," she mumbles listlessly.

Joyce's hand freezes a few inches above the girl. It didn't sound very different from something Buffy would have said, pleading with her, on those mornings after an extremely rough night of slaying. The accent though is definitely from New York.

"I was having the strangest dream," she murmurs. "Stuck in the past... Got in a fight with Dad, couldn't tell him he was Dad... Didn't wanna create any wicked strange paradox's where I wasn't born... That'd just be too freaky," she finishes trying to burrow even further into the bed.

She straightens up while May is talking and takes a small step back. "I don't know who you are miss, but I do know you're not my daughter," Joyce says in a firm voice.

May stiffens at the unfamiliar voice, her eyes popping open as the events of the past few days come crashing back down on her. Being in the past with her father. Getting help from Reed Richards in an attempt to get back home, but instead winding up in California. A California she thought might be in an alternate reality.

She turns her head to look back over her shoulder, her dark eyes taking in the older woman standing a few feet away. The one thing that stands out is how tall she is, about the same height as her mother: five eight, five nine and looks to be around the same age: late thirties to early forties. Her hair is a light auburn, still rich and luxuriant, but looking like its lost a little of its shine, its sheen, with age.

The woman seems more wary, or perturb then frightened or angry. Almost like she is use to strange or unusual things happening to her.

One thing that May is finding different is that her spider-sense isn't reacting to the woman. Even when she had been sleeping it didn't go off. Which is odd considering it went off when her mom would try to sneak up on her. Her dad however never set off her spider-sense.

It could just mean the woman really had no intention of harming her. Which considering the fact that she is sleeping in her house, without permission, is really, really hard to believe.

May rolls onto her back and sits up in the bed, letting the heavy quilt fall away, exposing the red and blue skin tight body suit she fell asleep wearing. "The safest course of action to take when discovering an intruder sleeping in your house is; A: Exit the house as quickly and safely as possible and call the police from a safe location, B: Grab a heavy blunt object and beat them about the head and shoulders, or C: Wake them up and hope they don't turn out to be a psychopath?"

Joyce blinks at the girl, at the multiple choice question she just asked. It is definitely the kind of statement Buffy would have made. Though the gaudy red and blue spandex is definitely something Buffy would never, ever have been caught dead in.

"You're not though?" Joyce answers managing to keep the strain out of her voice.

May shakes her head as she says, "but you didn't know that?"

This time its Joyce who shakes her head. "How about you tell me who you are, why you're sleeping in my daughters bed, then I'll decide whether I'll call the police or not?" She replies in a no nonsense tone of voice as she folds her arms across her chest.

"Does breakfast come with that offer?" She inquires with a tiny smile.

Joyce watches May with an amused smile as the young girl polishes off a second bowl of cereal. She gave her a pair of Buffy's sweets and a tank top to wear. Unsurprisingly the clothes fit as if they had been bought for her. For a moment Joyce wonders where May put all the food, then she remembers the story May told her.

She isn't quite sure if she believes in alternate realities, but May did seem to know some surprising things about Buffy and her friends. Some of it is completely wrong. Like Willow being bi-sexual, or Buffy getting involved with another souled vampire.

Still what she did know. It isn't the kind of information just any person is going to know. Like her having sex with Giles on the hood of a police car. But if in her world Buffy's life, her adventures, are nothing more then a television series it might explain how she knew what she knew.

Like May herself said, the series, along with the two spin-offs, had all been cancelled long before she was born. Add to that the fact she didn't watch them in syndication and it would more then make up for her gaps in knowledge and wrong information.

"Thank you," May says in appreciation as she sits up fully while pushing her bowl away slightly. "That was delicious, thank you."

"It was only cold cereal," Joyce responds with a ghost of a smile. "All I had to do was pour the milk."

"Still its something you didn't have to do," May points out. Standing, she picks up the empty bowl and carries it to the sink. Even after the nearly hour she spent with Mrs. Summers its still surprising her just how accepting and gracious she is. She doesn't know many people that would have listened to the story she had told and not made some excuse to leave the room and call the loony bin to come and pick her up.

Placing the bowl in the sink she turns back around. At first she glances down towards the floor, but after a moment she raises her eyes back up to the motherly figure staring at her. "Not to seem pushy or ungrateful or anything, but do think Buffy will be able to help me. Its nothing personal... I mean, you've been great. Above and beyond and all that, but I'd really, really like to get back home as soon as possible."

Joyce gives her head a small shake. "Its all right. I can't even imagine what you must be going through. Trapped, sometime in the pass, on a different world, completely alone, with no family or..." She stops suddenly looking at May, a horrified expression speeding across her face. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I wasn't, I didn't..."

May waves off the apology as she says, "it's okay. Not like I haven't been thinking about it constantly or anything," she finishes in a soft murmur.

Her frown deepens as she watches the young woman, teenager really, turn to gaze out at the backyard through the small window over the sink. There wasn't anything that she could do to alleviate her suffering. "I'm going to call Buffy, let her know what's going on. If you want you can go upstairs and take a shower. Buffy still has a lot of clothes here so you shouldn't have any problems finding something to wear."

May nods her head as she says, "thank you." She however doesn't move from the where she is standing, staring at her own ghostly reflection in the window pane. A few seconds, a few minutes- she's not sure which- pass before she hears Joyce's soft footfalls walking away.

Taking a deep breath she pushes down the turbulent emotions bubbling within her. Breaking down or freaking out isn't going to help fix, or accomplish, anything. She needs to be in control right now.

Joyce looks up as she hears the shower come on. She's glad May had taken up her offer of a shower. Hopefully it will give her a chance to gather herself. Especially after that inane comment she had made.

The phone rings again bringing her attention back there. Its the third ring since she dialed Buffy and Willow's dorm room. Glancing at the clock on the wall she notes its almost seven now. "Where could she be?" She mumbles to herself as the phone rings again.

In high school Buffy would just be getting up about this time in order to get ready for school. "Its not like I know what her schedule is now though," she muses quietly. Not for the first time she realizes just how little she knows about what is going on with Buffy now that she's at collage. She didn't even know when her first class of the day is, or her last class, or any of the ones in-between.

Another rings begins, but cuts off in the middle. A brief second later a breathless voice says, "hello."

"Willow, how are you?" She inquires politely.

"Oh pretty good Mrs. Summers, how are you?" She replies.

"Not too bad," Joyce responds. "Still trying to get use to having this big old house all to myself."

"It must be pretty strange," Willow agrees.

Joyce takes a small breath. "Is Buffy available?"

"She just went out," Willow answers. "She had to see Giles about something she ran into last night, so she got up early. I can take a message..."

"I'll just give Mr. Giles a call. See if I can catch her there. Thank you for all your help," Joyce replies.

"Okay, well... I have to get going. First class of the day starts soon," Willow responds.

Joyce nods at her statement. "Thank you Willow," she says a quick moment before hanging up the phone. Bringing the handset away from her head she looks down and punches in Rupert Giles' telephone number.

Unlike Buffy and Willow's dorm room the phone is quickly picked up just after the first ring. "Rupert Giles speaking."

"Hello Mr. Giles."

"Mrs. Summers," Giles replies just as formally. After a brief pause he adds, "is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm looking for Buffy? Willow said she might be with you," she answers.

"One moment?" Giles responds. Then more softly she hears him say, "its your mother."

A couple of seconds pass before Buffy greets her saying, "hey Mom. What's up?"

"I found somebody here this morning that I think you might be interested in meeting," she answers cryptically.

"Mom," Buffy says worriedly.

"You remember the story of Goldilocks and the three bears? Because I got home this morning and there was this young girl sleeping in your bed," Joyce tells her daughter.

"Please tell me you called the police?" Buffy demands.

"That's almost the same thing she asked me," Joyce answers.

"Mom!" Buffy gasps.

"Does this mean you'll be stopping by the house?" She inquires sweetly.

"I'll be there in five minutes," Buffy replies just before the phone goes dead.

Joyce smiles to herself as she hangs up the phone. Buffy should be able to help May out, but almost as importantly she hopes that Buffy and her will be able to reconnect while she's here.

Buffy hangs up Giles' phone with a grimace and a groan. "I've got to go," she says with a quick glance at the old man.

"What's wrong?" Giles asks with an extremely concerned look settling on his face.

She gives her head a slight shake, her blonde hair swinging from side to side. "Apparently my mom decided to open up a boarding house."

Giles face scrunches up slightly in incomprehension. "Would you like me to give you a ride?"

This time its Buffy's face that scrunches up. Only her look is in horror. "Um, no thanks. It'll probably be quicker if I just kind of..." She stops looking at his hurt expression. "Is it okay if I ride in the back and keep my head ducked down so no one will see me?" She asks hopefully.

"All I'm saying," Forest continues as he follows Riley and Graham out the front door, "is that we would've been able to bag that hostile last night." He finishes pounding his right fist into his open palm.

Graham shakes his head slightly but before he can say anything Riley replies saying, "I'm just as glad I was were I was."

"Making time with the freak about campus while you're brothers are getting stomped on?" Forest questions, lot of anger in his voice coloring his voice.

Riley comes to a sudden stop as he rounds on his long time friend. "Buffy isn't a freak," he growls in a menacing tone.

"Hey I just call them as I see them," Forest responds.

"Just for your information," Riley begins taking a step closer. "If she hadn't won last night then what happened in the base wouldn't have matter because there wouldn't have been an Earth."

Forest scoffs at the statement, his eyes glittering with a dark light. "She's stronger then them, faster, and can throw a beat down on them whenever she wants to. So if she ain't a freak, what the hell is she?"

Riley calms slightly as he reflects on the question, on some of the things Buffy has told him about herself. "Buffy's special. She was chosen to protect the world from vampires and demons when she was just fifteen. Unlike us she wasn't given a choice. It was, 'if you don't people are going to die and you could have... Were suppose to save them'."

Forest's scowl deepens as he demands, "so what? Is she like some kind of saint? Should we all just bow down and worship at the alter of Buffy?"

"I don't think that's what he meant by it," Graham insist.

"That's sure as hell what it sounding like to me."

Riley gives his head slight shake. "Look, she's been doing this, the same thing as us, since she was fifteen. On her own. We might be able to learn a lot from her," he finishes.

"Or she could be playing you," Forest replies. "Telling you something she thinks will keep you off her back," he finishes venomously.

"You might not want to hear this," Graham comments keeping himself positioned so he can step between them if necessary. "Either one of you, but both of you just might be right. Now can we get back to the sweep we're suppose to be on?"

"Locating the other hostile?" Forest asks with a special emphasis on the word other.

Graham nods as he says, "if we can."

Riley shrugs as the three of them begin across campus. "That adhesive... Webbing I guess," he starts with a shrug, "was found all the way across town. The last of it almost two hours ago."

Forest glance over at him. "Can you believe it took two and half hours for that shit to dissolve. Nothing we had could scratch it."

"Dulled out three titanium rotary blades," Graham informs them. "Then the stuff just melted into goop."

"The techs are trying to figure it out," Forest adds. "Heard a few of them talking about it. They don't have any idea as to how it was made. From what I heard them saying whoever invented it designed it so that when it melts it chemical composition breaks apart, collapses into its base elements."

The front door bangs open, is nearly torn from its hinges, as Buffy storms into the foyer of her home. A home she has stepped foot in far too infrequently these past few months. Her head swivels from side to side, her eyes narrowing, as she uses all of her senses to search for the intruder in her home. Her ears perk up, listening for any strange sounds, anything that doesn't belong.

Voices. Quiet, subdued coming from the kitchen. Without hesitation she strides silently, stealthily down the short corridor.

Reaching the end of the hall she comes to a stop. Her mother stands on the far side of the breakfast island that occupies the middle of the kitchen. She could hear the words, but couldn't understand them as her eyes bore into the back of the young woman's skull.

May feels her spider-sense tingling, giving her warning of imminent danger, even though the buzz that has been constantly filling her head vanished almost at the exact same instant. Turning smoothly, her dark eyes lock on Buffy, a relieved breath escaping from her.

Joyce glances up, taken by surprise with May's sudden move, to see Buffy standing in the entrance. A small frown creases her lips as she realizes May must have heard Buffy come in. "Buffy," she starts to greet her daughter as she begins moving around the island.

A small smile creeps across May's lips. Her spider-sense had lessened in the seconds Buffy's been looking at her.

"This is May..." Joyce begins.

"We've met," May interrupts.

Buffy shakes her head. "I've never seen you before," she disagrees.

May's grin widens slightly, still nothing more then a small quirk to the corner of her lips. "Last night. There was a bit more spandex in my outfit. Red and blue."

She gives her head a hard shake trying to put the two pieces of information together. "How'd you..."

"Buffy!" Giles calls out as he stumbles to a stop behind his slayer. "You got out of the car so suddenly, before I had the chance to come to a full stop."

Buffy's face reddens slightly, but she doesn't look away from May for even a split second as she says, "this is the girl I was telling you about."

Giles lifts his head a fraction of an inch to take in the slim, but otherwise nondescript young girl, with short cropped dark brown hair, standing a few feet ahead of him. "You mean the one that saved the young woman's life, easily beat a vampire but didn't know how to kill the creature. Clings to wall..."

"Sticks," May interjects with a sullen frown. "You make may sound like a piece of lint." Her spider-sense is still tingling faintly. She isn't surprised that Buffy is staying on guard around her. Waiting for her to make some kind of move so she can pounce.

"Sticks," Giles corrects himself with a small nod of his head, "to walls and swings away on a thin strand of, rope?" He inquires looking at May.

"Artificial webbing," she supplies. Then adds in a proud tone, "my father made it."

"That's great," Buffy snarls. "Really glad for you. But the question is, why did you come here?"

May purses her lips as she glances down to the floor for a moment. She lets out a slow breath as she looks back up at Buffy. "The place, the time I come from... Your life, the life of Buffy Anne Summers, the Vampire Slayer, had been a hit television show. There were a couple spin offs," she comments with a small shrug, "involving your ex-boyfriends. Vampires with a soul, or something. I never watched a lot of t.v. and I'm pretty they were all cancelled before I was born anyway, but after meeting you last night I thought if I was were I thought I was then you might be able to help me get back home."

Buffy stares ahead blankly. It was just about the most outrageous thing she had ever heard. But its also the truth. She can just feel it in her gut.

"Not to call you a liar or anything like that," Giles starts off as he steps around Buffy. "But are you trying to say you come from the future?"

May nods, thankful that they didn't think she is crazy. "Not just the future, but a different reality as well," she informs them hopping up into the island top. "when I first went back it was a straight trip, from one point to the other. Richards said the return should be the same, but he couldn't guarantee it. Somehow I must have gone sideways as well as up the time stream. There had to have been some kind of disruption to the time space continuum while I was making the journey. Something powerful enough to pull me off course."

"The apocalypse I averted yesterday," Buffy burst out. "The third demon managed to jump into the hell mouth but I was able to bring him back out."

Giles nods at Buffy's hypothesis as he says, "its quite possible," in a distant voice. His mind going back over a few of May's statements. One of them was that her father invented an artificial webbing. He had only ever heard of that in one place before and coincided with the powers Buffy described to him, and that May admitted to possessing. The ability to scale vertical surfaces; her strength, speed, agility, fighting skills. Then there was the name of the man who had previously tried to get her back home, Richards. If it was who he thought it was, things might be even worse then he first suspected. "Who exactly is your father?" He finally asks.

"Peter Parker," May answers with a shrug. "Why?" She questions as Giles eyes widen in shock, and even Buffy looks like she's in a state. May's not quite sure what state Buffy's in, but she's pretty sure its not California.

May's spider-sense kicks off in her head like a freight train is roaring between her ears. Her reaction is as fast and swift as it instinctual as she leaps over the breakfast island to catch Joyce before she does more then start to fall.

Startling May is the fact that Buffy is at her side almost as quickly. She looks the blonde in the eyes as she asks, "what?"

"Can you do it again?" Xander asks hopefully, a goofy little smile lighting up his face, as he gestures to the book on Giles' coffee table.

May sighs softly. It had come as somewhat of a shock to her that everyone knew who her father is. That in this reality Spider-Man was one of a handful of highly popular comic books, one of the mainstays, published by Marvel Comics for the past forty years. Now she kind of an inkling of how Buffy must have felt when she told her about her life being a television series. It explained everyone's reaction.

Reaching out with her left hand, her fingertips come in contact with the rough leather cover. She lifts her arm, the book coming with her, flopping open as she only holds on to one cover. From across the room she can practically feel Giles sharp gasp at her abuse of his book, while she watches Xander's eyes light up like a child at Christmas.

"How much can you lift like that?" Xander asks excitedly. May shifts her hand so the book flips close, she concentrates for a brief second, and a moment later the book soars across the few feet separating them to smack Xander square in the face. "Ow!" He cries out as he catches the book before it can fall to the floor.

Giles stands up from his chair, plucking his glasses from his head to rub at his temples with his thumb and forefinger effectively concealing his grin. He's rather glad that the four of them: Buffy, Joyce, May and himself; had agreed to keep the fact that in her reality they were characters portrayed in a television show. A show she isn't all that familiar with. Its safer, also kinder for everyone that they don't know the truth of the matter. Knowing that somewhere, out there, people are watching, looking, gazing in on their private lives.

"How'd you do that?" Xander asks holding the book up in front of himself. "Spider-Man couldn't do that," he adds as an after thought.

She smiles at him sweetly, too sweetly. "Just because I'm my father's daughter doesn't mean I'm my father." After nearly three hours being stuck in a room with only Xander for company she is beginning to go a little stir crazy. The only relief she has is the fact Giles is there as well. Not that that's much of a relief.

The only other person that has been in Giles' apartment was Xander's girlfriend, Anya. A stranger person, not in a costume, she has never met before. For no reason that May could discern she simply came out and said, "Xander's mine so you can't have sex with him." To which May had nearly sprayed the entire room with a mouth full of coke she hadn't quite swallowed.

It had taken her nearly fifteen minutes to convince Anya that she isn't planning on having sex with anyone while she is in this reality, least of all Xander. That she isn't really big on long distance relationship. But even if she had been Xander still wasn't anywhere on her list. Which Anya had gotten extremely indignant over wanting to know why she wouldn't sleep with Xander.

At that May asked her if she wanted a list? Anya hadn't been to pleased with the question. May just hadn't been able to help herself. It was like a reflex action. See person in trouble, save them. See opportunity for witty banter, make half thought pun. May sighs as she looks up at Giles. "What am I suppose to be looking for again?"

Giles glides his glasses back in front of his eyes as he wipes the smile from his face while he turns back around to face May. "Any reference about spatial or reality shifts."

Xander looks up at the comment. "Like what Anya did when she tried to get her amulet back last year."

Giles nods as he says, "quite. It might be quite beneficial if you could convince Anya to return this afternoon. Her experience and knowledge would be invaluable."

May's cheeks redden slightly as she glances down for a moment. "I'm so sorry about that," she says shifting her gaze to Xander. "A lot of times my mouth kind of runs away from me and I wind up saying things I shouldn't."

Xander shrugs again at the comment. "I'm the king of talking without thinking. Most of the time its like my brain isn't even connected to my mouth."

"I can vouch for that," Giles murmurs pulling another book out of the shelving built into his wall. May smiles as she holds out her hand to take the book while Xander glances up at the watcher with an irate scowl, that the older man effectively ignores.

Riley watches Buffy as she crosses the freshly manicured lawn in front of the university's library. To him, with the way she's dressed, she looks like a ray of sunshine made flesh bouncing her way across campus. A large smile plastering her face, her hair sparkling like polished gold in the morning light. Standing up he waves her over.

"Hey," she greets him tossing her arms around his neck and leaning up to plant a light kiss on his lips before dropping her heels back to the ground. "How'd your night go, aside from that near apocalypse you helped me with?"

Riley shoots a quick glance around at the passing students and faculty. "It was, um... Its not something I can really talk about. Not here anyway."

Buffy looks around, a light smile touching her eyes as she takes in all the disinterested people around them. Intertwining her arm with his, she begins leading him away. "I'm going to share a little secrete with you about Sunnydale. Everybody knows what's going on, granted I'd keep the whole MIB thing to yourself, but talking about vampires, demons... Nobody cares." She gives a little shrug. "I wouldn't go shouting it from the rooftops that you go around fighting, capturing, killing things that go bump in the night, or anything like that. But..."

He looks around again, casually. "Its procedure. We can't discuss any incident outside of a secured location."

"Ha!" Buffy exclaims brightly, a mischievous light in her eyes. "So you're admitting there was an incident last night?" She questions playfully.

"I never said that," he responds defensively.

Buffy continues to smile up at him. "I could drag it out of you, you know?"

Riley grins back as he says, "I don't doubt that you could. But you're not going to are you?"

"I'll be good," she promises. "Anything uninteresting happen last night?"

He shakes his head slightly before he catches himself. Looking down at Buffy he sees a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. "Lots of uninteresting things happened. What about you?"

Buffy shrugs as she leans into his arm. "Would you believe my cousin's visiting all the way from New York."

Riley frowns down at her. "She came out at the start of the semester?"

"She's kind of whacky like that," Buffy replies.

He nods at that while saying, "I've got a brother like that myself. Free spirit, no body could ever pin him down and no one ever knew what he was going to do next."

They stop walking for a moment as they reach the curb. Checking both ways Riley begins across bringing Buffy along with him. "So you're going to showing her around tonight?"

She nods saying, "yeah."

Riley looks down at her for a moment before lifting his head back up. "Does she know about... What you do?" He inquires softly glancing around them.

"That I go to collage? Of course," she answers sounding as innocent as ever. He gives her a hard glare as she smiles up at him. "Sorry," she murmurs. "Force of habit, but yeah. She knows, sort of ran into me last night while I was... Dusting up on some of my Civics' paperwork."

Riley's lips curl downward as he says, "I didn't know you're taking Civics. Do you have Professor Lalth?"

Buffy drops her head despondently as a deep breath seems to explode out of her lungs. After a moment she looks back up at him. "I was speaking in code," she informs him. "Don't you guys do that?"

"Well, um... Yeah," he mumbles looking down and away from her while scratching the back of his neck with his left hand. "I just didn't realize that's what you were doing. You know... Maybe we should take a day and make our own code, so we'll be able to talk in private even when we're in public."

"Like we are now?" She questions happily.

Riley nods, glad that Buffy is so excepting, not to mention trusting. "Right, just like we are now."

Xander hangs up the handset to Giles's old black rotary telephone as he turns back to the ex-watcher, an apologetic frown creasing his brow. "Anya's still mad," he begins.

"I really am sorry about calling her an immature..." May starts cutting Xander off.

Giles shakes his head. "No need for you to continue to apologize. You were simply stating the obvious. As you've no doubt noticed Anya can be rather immature for some one of her age."

"Anyway," Xander says pointedly. "She said that spell was only good for retrieval and that she just used the reverse of it to send Willow back."

He nods at the information as he sits down on the stool in front of his counter. Resting his forearm on the hard surface he drums his fingers for a moment as he says, "that's a shame. It was a nifty little spell. Would have solved your problem without a problem. What?" He questions seeing the look of bafflement on Xander's face.

Xander gives his head a slight shake then begins by saying, "I was just wondering if I'd fallen into some alternate reality? Did you just say nifty?"

"Its a perfectly acceptable word, when the occasion permits," Giles responds in defense of his word choice.

"Sure," Xander agrees. "If you're twelve."

"Is that why I never heard you use it?" He inquires with a perfectly straight face.

Xander blinks wondering if he's just been insulted or not. He thinks he has, but he isn't sure. Cocking his head slightly he turns to look at May and asks her, "I was just insulted wasn't I?"

"I think so," May answers with a shrug.

"Thought so," Xander replies. "Just wanted a second opinion."

A soft rapping at the front door brings the pseudo conversation to a halt. Xander leaps up at the sound saying, "I got it."

"Hey," Willow says as she walks in. "Buffy told me what was going on and asked me to stop by and give you guys a hand."

"That's awfully Willowy of you," Xander comments as he swings the door close behind her.

Giles glances at Xander with a raised eyebrow. "And you mock my choice of words?"

May drops her head over the back of the sofa to look at the upside down redhead. "Hi," she greets extending her right hand. "You must be Willow. Buffy's told me so much about you."

Willow takes May's hand. "Buffy's told me a lot about you as well, about your problem," she responds giving May's hand a gentle shake. "Being lost in our reality," she adds with a shake of her head. "I had a thought. About a year ago I accidentally transported my evil vampire self from a different reality..."

Xander shakes his head at her as he says, "already checked with Anya on that one. Came back with a big fat no."

Willow takes a look around. "Where is Anya?"

"She got upset with something I said to her," May remarks.

"She was acting rather childish and May just happened to be the one to point it out to her," Giles clarifies slightly.

Willow nods her head in understanding. She known Anya as long as anyone in the room, though nowhere near as well as Xander has gotten to know her. A small frown slips on then off her lips as she wonders why she finds that thought disturbing. She gives her head a small shake, breaking herself out of the slight funk she finds herself in. "Have you guys found anything useful?"

"Sure," Xander answers while May glances up at the clock. "None of its useful for this though."

"I got to get going," May says standing up. "I promised Mrs. Summers I'd give her a hand."

As she picks up her pilfered back pack Giles stands back up as well. He picks up several books. "These here are all English based text. You shouldn't have any problem skimming through them. Just note anything that you think might be relevant to your situation, no matter how trivial, and bring them back with you tomorrow."

"Thanks," May says taking the handful of books from him. She quickly slips them into her back pack saying, "I'll get them back to you first thing in the morning."

"Are you going to be able to find your way?" Giles inquires with a hint of concern.

"I'll be fine," she answers. "I'll just hop a bus."

Xander glances over at her. "Now when you say hop a bus, do you mean hopping on top of one and..."

"I mean getting inside the bus and riding it to my destination," she replies with a frown. "This isn't like New York, isn't like my New York," she corrects herself. "I don't think the people in Sunnydale would be able to handle seeing some one wearing red and blue spandex swinging around on a strand of webbing."

Joyce smile faintly at the displays she's managed to get set up with May's help. The young girl was literally a bundle of energy, practically bouncing off everything in sight. She's glad May remembered to show up. Not only did she need the help, but it also gave her the opportunity to slip the girl a little bit of money that she couldn't refuse. Plus not having to pull out the Gallery's bulky ladder was an extra benefit Joyce hadn't counted on.

Once the displays were done Joyce had called in an order at Jasper's, the local hamburger shop just up the road, and had them deliver her order. Not surprisingly May had finished off two double cheeseburgers, an extra large order of fries, and a chocolate milkshake all in the amount of time it took her to eat a toasted BLT and a quarter of her tossed salad.

"Has Mr. Giles and the others found anything to help you get back home?" Joyce asks picking at her salad.

May pops a fry into her mouth as she gives her head a shake. "They're going through books, most written in languages I don't understand." She gives a small shrug adding, "even the ones in English look like a different language altogether."

Joyce nods as she says, "he has an extensive collection of rare and ancient books. Most dealing with the occult and the arcane. I'm sure he'll find something before he exhaust his source material."

May rolls her shoulders, a slightly apprehensive frown turning her lips down. "I hope so," she murmurs. A brief moment later her eyes flicker up to Joyce. "Not that you and the others haven't been great, its just... I haven't seen my parents, my friends in almost a week. I'm not even able to pick up a phone, to call them up and talk to them, find out how they're doing. Tell them what I'm going through and having them assure me that everything is going to be all right even if they know its a lie."

Joyce sighs. Reaching out she grips May's forearm. "If anyone can get you back home its Buffy and her friends. They deal with this type of... Situation all the time," she assures the young woman. "I don't know if it helps or not, but I'm sure your parents and friends are just as worried about you as you are about them," she adds in a soft, compassionate voice.

She smiles at that. For a few seconds she debates informing Mrs. Summers that if she can get back within moments, seconds, even hours of when she left- even if she spent years in this reality- to everyone there it would be as if she never left. In the end she decides not to. After all Mrs. Summers is just trying to be kind and comforting, like any mother would be. "Thanks," she murmurs. "You're pretty good at that," she adds in a much firmer tone.

Joyce exhales at the compliment. It wasn't something she wouldn't have heard two years ago, maybe not even a year. She has been- is still- trying to come to terms with Buffy's suppose destiny.

It has taken her quite some time, and while she still doesn't except her daughter's lot in life, she at least excepts Buffy for who she is. It's more then she could have said last year, and she didn't even want to think about how far she has come in the nearly two years since she found out about vampires and slayers and watchers and witches.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do while you're here?" She finally asks after several silent moments.

May's lips turn downward and her eyes narrow as she thinks about the question. After a brief pause she gives her head a slight shake as she asks, "why?"

Joyce looks down at her partially eaten salad, pushes it around for a few seconds with her fork before she looks back up. "It might take a few days for Mr. Giles to find the right spell to send you to your home, and... I don't know if you have anyplace to stay while you're going to be in town, but you'd be more then welcome to stay at the house and I can always find something for you to do around here, that I'd be more then willing to pay you for..."

She had made the same offer to Faith when she had first arrived in Sunnydale last year, and while Faith had shown up occasionally, when she was in dire need of money, the brunette had flatly refused to move in claiming she was more then capable of taking care of herself. Obviously her winding up in a coma was proof that she wasn't. Joyce just hopes that once Faith wakes up she'll reconsider the offer. She also hopes that May isn't as stubborn as what slayers seem to be.

May shakes her head as she replies saying, "you don't have to pay me for helping out. You letting me stay at you home... That's more then I could have hoped for."

"Nonsense," Joyce responds. "You can't be expected to go around without any money. Even if you're only here for another day or two."

May smiles, a glint in her soft, brown eyes. She didn't know what she had done to be so lucky to run across Mrs. Summers, but she is grateful she has. She has the strong feeling that if it not for Joyce, then Buffy and her friends might not be helping her right now. "You're a good person," she informs Joyce in a soft voice.

A soft dew covers the cobblestones lining the courtyard, the plastic tables and their color coordinated chairs, the potted plants as well as the free growing saplings, and the well groomed shrubbery and trees. A newspaper sits on each doorsteps.

May sighs as she slips the back pack from her shoulder after knocking on Giles's front door. It had taken her a few minutes worth of knocking but she had finally come to the conclusion that the English, ex-librarian isn't at home right now. Either that or he's still sleeping and it would take more then her pounding on his door to wake him up.

Squatting down she picks up the newspaper sitting on his doorstep. Dropping her back pack to the ground she hops up on the wooden bench and sits down on its back.

She was still on New York time and having gotten to bed early last night she had woke up early this morning. Having lots of energy and nothing else to do she came here hoping to get something more accomplished.

The books Giles had given her last night were definitely interesting, with lots of information on temporal folds and cross reality junkets. She had made sure to mark down, with great painstaking precision, all the passages concerning both subjects. Hopefully her extra work will help Giles find her a way home that much quicker.

Flipping open Giles's paper May quickly locates the sports section. There wasn't a lot of news on the teams she is interested in, mainly the New York, New Jersey sports franchises, but she's just as content reading about such superstars as Jordan, Bryant, O'Niel, Duncan, Warner, Faulk, Young, T. O. and the others names that proliferate the west coast sports arena.

She felt a little weird reading about Tiger Woods as a young phenom. Not to mention the William sisters. Pete Sampres still playing tennis, as well as Agassi. It almost felt like she was watching ESPNClassic.

"Hello May," Giles gasps breathlessly surprising the young girl, who gives a slight start at being taken unaware. Which in turn surprises Giles with the fact he had been able to surprise her.

May lets out a short, explosive breath just before saying, "hey."

Giles frowns slightly at her reaction. "I thought, that like your father, you possessed a sixth sense. A warning system so to speak?"

"I do," she answers standing up and refolding Giles's newspaper. "Its not precognition though. I don't know everything that's going to happen five seconds before hand. It's more like a danger sense. If you or anybody took a swing, pointed a gun at me... Even with my back turned, or if there's a general danger in the area then my spider-sense goes off," she informs him. Picking her back pack up from the ground a thoughtful frown creeps across her lips. "Is there something... Different about Sunnydale? Something dangerous?" She questions handing Giles his paper.

"What do you mean?" He inquires slipping the paper under his arm as he digs out his keys.

"The whole time I've been in this town," she starts off as Giles unlocks his door and pushes it open. "My spider-sense has stayed at this constant low level buzz. Like there's danger all around me, all the time. This entire town has something dangerous lurking underneath it?" She finishes while Giles closes the heavy door.

"An apt description," Giles remarks as the door clicks shut. He tosses the newspaper onto the end table by the door. He takes a deep breath as May turns to face him. "Sunnydale was built upon a hellmouth, a place in the physical world where the walls separating varies dimensions are extremely thin. Think of a piece of paper holding back Niagara Falls..."

"That's not a very encouraging picture," May mutters solemnly.

Giles nods his head as he says, "no. It isn't. The worst evils in the world are drawn to Sunnydale trying to break down that wall. For the past three years Buffy, Xander, Willow, and a few others have prevented any number of potential apocalypses. The latest one was the night of your arrival here."

"Possibly what pulled me here," May comments leaning against the back of Giles sofa.

"Possibly," Giles agrees. It's taking him a little getting use to. Someone with her type of powers displaying such a natural intelligence. He is finding May to be an odd combination. A forceful intensity mixed with a very laid back attitude. Intelligence, wit, and common sense not normally seen in teenagers.

Then Giles considers some of the challenges she must have faced in her short life so far. Events like what Buffy has had to face since being called. Life and death choices for those around her. He suddenly finds that it isn't all that surprising. After all, it is one of the great adages that came out of the Spider-Man comic books, "with great power comes great responsibility."

"What was that?" May asks.

Giles gives his head a rueful shake saying, "just thinking out loud."

"It almost sounding like something my dad's always saying... Something his uncle told him. 'With great power comes great responsibility.' He always said he didn't understand what it meant until after Uncle Ben died, but he would never tell me what happened. Almost like he was ashamed... Or something. The only thing he ever told me was that he didn't want me to know what it felt like to be responsible, to blame myself when I couldn't save somebody, or worse yet. To be the reason they were in danger in the first place."

Giles moves into the little kitchenette at the start of her musing. Pulling a water bottle from his refrigerator he listens to her with a growing sense of dread as she continues to talk and he takes a short pull from the bottle. Once he's done taking his drink he places the water bottle and his glasses on the counter so he can wipe the sweat from his face with the towel draped across his shoulders.

The very last thing he wants to do is tell her that Peter Parker, her father, once, just after he gained his powers, failed to do the proper thing and allowed an armed and dangerous criminal to escape by doing nothing. That the man he allowed to get away would go on and kill his Uncle, and that Peter Parker would blame himself for his Uncle's death, and that he would spend, perhaps the rest of his life trying to make up for that one mistake.

"You know what happened. Don't you?" She questions after the extended pause.

Giles drops the towel onto his counter top. He sucks in a short breath as he looks at her. "I think that's something you are going to have to discuss with your father once we get you back home."

May scowls for a moment, a light glare before she wipes it from her face. It had been surprising for her to find out that her father's life had been chronicled in comic books. Not just his life as Spider-Man, but also his life as Peter Parker.

In her own reality she had seen old periodicals, newspapers, and comics chronicling her father's exploits. His exploits as Spider-Man. There was never any mention of Peter Parker. Unless it was photo by.

"Fine," she mutters straightening up. There are other ways for her to find out what she wants to know. Giles might be astute enough to avoid, dodge, and flat refuse to answer her questions. Others however wouldn't be so obstinate, or pigheaded on the matter. Especially if she could get to them before Giles has a chance to sink his claws into them.

Picking up her back pack she unzips it and starts pulling out the books Giles had given her last night. "Some good news. Maybe?" She says with a shrug. "There was a lot of information on subjects like temporal folds, time loops, reality subjectivity, subjective reality and a few other topics."

Giles looks at her, astonishment in his eyes as he murmurs, "you truly managed to read them all?"

"Speed read," she answers.

He nods at her answer. "It's definitely a skill that would allow you to accomplish such a feat," he says giving her a curios look. "Is your notebook still in you book bag there?"

"Notebook?" May questions with a frown.

Giles slips his glasses back on his face. "The paper you used to record what pages I need..."

May gives her head a slight shake as she picks up one of the books and flips it open. "You don't have to worry about that," she informs Giles as she quickly thumbs through the pages until she finds what she's looking for.

With a bright smile she turns the open book towards the old man. Giles face blanches at the sight of the bright green blaring out at him from the ancient text. "I highlighted all of the relevant sections. I made sure to color code everything... Green for spatial references, because space, Earth and green is kind of Earth..."

"What the bloody hell possessed you to do that!" Giles shouts at her, his face a purplish mask of fury. His nostrils flare, his eyes bulging.

May's head jerks up, an indignant glare shooting from her eyes. "You told me to take notes. I took notes."

"That's a priceless artifact you bloody twit," he snarls coming around out of his kitchen.

"Then maybe you should have been a little more specific in the kind of notes you wanted me to take!" She shouts back at him hurling the book at his head. He barely manages to react quickly enough to catch the projectile as she snatches her back pack from the floor and bolts out the door.

Buffy slips around the galvanized chain linked fence, making sure to stay well out of May's field of vision. She is right where her mother said she would be. There's a stab of something, jealousy maybe, at how close May and her mother have become so quickly. The two of them seemed to have formed this instant bound that she is still trying to achieve with her mother.

The orange and black basketball bounces lightly off the smooth, tarred blacktop while the young brunette weaves her way through imaginary defenders. There's a smoothness, a grace to how she moves, like a dancer who's perfected an amazing piece of choreography. Swan Lake or the Nutcracker or one of the other ballets she saw back in elementary school. One of the many programs designed to encourage young children to take an interest in culture.

Even from this distance Buffy can see the muscles in May's right leg bunch, contracting as they absorb the impact with the pavement, then explode as she springs back the other direction without missing a beat. The ball staying with her as if it is held in place by some unknown force, or magic.

A quick explosive step, a dead stop, then a smooth pirouette back the other way, jumping- nowhere near as high as she could- mid spin, still twirling while in the air, seeming to simply hang there for an extended period of time before she finally shoots the ball. It arches high into the air, travelling in agonizing slowness as it journeys towards the basket. Her toes touch the pavement at the same time the ball falls through the net touching but the bottom.

"Against Richmond, in the semi-finals..." May starts, still looking at the hoop, as the basketball bounces away from her.

Buffy gives a slight start with the sound of May's voice. She hadn't realized that the younger girl knew she was there. Most people didn't. At least they didn't until she made her presence known.

"...I missed. Of course I got fouled on the shot. Made all three free throws and we won the game. Got blown out the following week by D.C. in the finals," she finishes turning around to face Buffy. Without thinking about it she lifts the hem of her loose fitting tank top to wipe the sweet from her brow.

For a moment Buffy marvels at how tone her body is. She had seen it two nights ago, but that was through a layer of cloth, not that the spandex like material did anything to conceal her body. Its quite obvious that May believes in taking extremely good care of herself, super powers or not, as her muscles flex and relax just from her breathing.

Again Buffy feels that little stab of jealousy. It isn't that she is in bad shape or anything. Its just that there's no way her body is ever going to come close to looking even half as toned and defined as May's. Her slayerness just doesn't allow her body to change that drastically. Maybe if she had specialized equipment that could actually push her enhanced muscles. Absently she wonders if Giles might know how to get anything like that.

"You mean you didn't just take control of the game? I'm not saying that you would cheat... Or that it would be cheating or anything, but..." She questions with an unsure shrug.

May returns the shrug with one of her own. "That game. It's going back a couple years, to a time when I thought I was nothing more then another extremely gifted athlete. Before my powers really kicked in. And who knows, maybe that's all I was back then?" she finishes with another shrug before turning to retrieve the basketball.

Buffy follows after her asking, "and afterwards?"

May doesn't answer her as she squats down to pick up the ball. She dribbles it lazily while turning back around to face the blonde. "At first I thought I could keep playing. Just kind of stay where I was, maintain the status quo, coast along and still lead my team into the championship," she finishes, a sarcastic note in her voice, tossing the ball to Buffy.

She catches it with ease, but shakes her head tossing it back to May saying, "I don't play."

"Why not?" May questions with a frown.

"I'm not dressed for it first of all," Buffy replies.

May arches an eyebrow at that while tossing the ball back. "You're dressed fine. Tennis shoes instead of basketball sneakers, but you should be fine," she says taking a look at Buffy's clothing; jeans- not suffocatingly tight- and a light sweatshirt.

Buffy tosses the ball back. "I don't know how to play," she admits as May catches the ball.

She holds the basketball up. "See ball." She jumps and shoots. The basketball falls through the hoop. "Put ball in basket. Only rule we need to worry about is dribbling. Cannot move when you have the ball unless your dribbling. Don't worry," May starts, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "I promise to take it easy on you."

Buffy's gaze hardens at the words as her highly competitive nature kicks in. "Take it easy on me?" she growls.

May smiles at her, "just till you get your bearings."

Sweet drips from Buffy's brow, her hair had long since been pulled back with her tying it off in a loose braid after it continually falling into her eyes. Her left hand is keeping a light pressure applied just to the left of May's spine, making it easier for the brunette to move to her right then the left when she decides to move. Which Buffy had discerned is her weaker side through half an hour of playing. Not that there really is a lot of difference, but every little edge helps.

May is as quick as she remembers from the other night. Much as she hates to admit it, which is quite a lot, Buffy has to admit that May is faster then her. That coupled with how long she has been playing basketball, and the uncanny way she has of always making the absolute perfect choice.

Despite the brunette's advantages Buffy has still managed to keep the game extremely close, ten to six, and she is picking the game up quickly. Mostly because she is the slayer rather then any real skill she might posses. It isn't like May has been holding back though, or if she has it isn't a lot. At least it doesn't seem like a lot with how ragged she's been running her around.

"You never said why you were looking for me," May remarks backing Buffy down. Attempting to get just a little closer to the basket before making her move.

Buffy grunts, annoyed slightly that May doesn't even sound the slightest bit winded. "Who says I was looking for you?" she asks back taking steady breathes. A few more drops of sweet drip to the ground. She realizes she has to do something to build her stamina. Short; one, two, even five minute fights weren't a problem, but this here nearly thirty minutes of stop and go, burst and break action is wearing on her.

May smiles while shaking her head. "Lets just say you don't strike me as the type of person who visits playgrounds all that often," she answers taking small shuffling steps backwards the entire time.

"Okay," Buffy grunts exerting a little more pressure on May as the brunette approaches the imaginary, do not cross, line she's set in her head. "Giles asked me to find you. Said you stormed off in a huff."

May curses sourly surprising Buffy. A quick moment later she pushes back to her left, beginning to spin. Buffy stays right with her shuffling to her left with an explosive sideways movement. As quickly as she had started to her left May changes direction going back to her right in a sudden burst that only Buffy is able to keep up with as matches May step for step. Then, in mid stride, May leaps up and back, twisting just enough to face the basket, and shoots the fall away jumper from just beyond the three point arc.

Buffy turns to watch the shot fall cleanly through the hoop, a look of pure astonishment lighting her face. That was something she hadn't been expecting, but now that she knows May is capable of something like that she would be. If necessary she wouldn't let May get close enough to attempt the shot.

A sudden image of two men, one black one white, standing on a bridge with a basketball calling their shot, springs to her mind. She didn't know who either man were, Basketball icons she supposes, but she remembers the commercial. The first one to miss the shot loses the Big Mac.

It dawns on her that might be the only place she could put May were she might not be able to sink a shot. Like herself the brunette is more then capable of hitting a shot anywhere on the court. Without even trying hard.

"And did he tell you why... What happened? Or did he just leave it at I left in a huff?" May demands harshly snapping Buffy back to the moment.

Buffy kind of smiles as she turns back to face May. "Something about highlighters, priceless editions ruined, and to tell you he's sorry about the way he reacted."

May shakes her head as she scoffs saying, "no he isn't."

"No. He isn't," Buffy agrees with a shrug. "But he is feeling guilty about some of the things he said and... Did his face turn red?" she asks out of the blue.

"Huh?" May responds.

"It's something I've always wondered about. What Giles reaction would be if somebody ever did what you did, highlighted one of his books," Buffy explains.

"If you can picture somebody whose flesh has turned an interesting shade of purple, then pale back the skin around their eyes, nose, and mouth. Make the eyeballs bulge out of their sockets," May describes with a light smirk. "I thought he was going to jump right out of his skin," she admits.

Buffy chuckles softly at the imagery as she picks up the basketball. She glances up at the hoop remembering the shot May had just made. With a slight nod of her head towards the basket she asks, "is that why you quit?"

May gives a silent snort, shooting out a hard breath. "How do you know the difference between gifted and gifted?" She asks putting an extra special emphasis on the second gifted, like it is more important then just regular gifted. "Teams down by ten points, a minute and half to go when you single handedly lead them back to win the game with the final shot as the clock runs down to zero. You tell yourself that you just got into the zone, that just because you're gifted doesn't mean you used those gifts, you've done the same thing in previous years, but now you have this voice in the back of your head asking you, 'are you sure you weren't just a little better then last year?' or 'did you use just a bit of that little something extra you have?' Then one of the players on one of the teams you play, the star of their team, a phenom like you, turns out to be a TK..."

"TK?" Buffy asks clearly confused.

"Telekinetic," May answers then shrugs adding, "telepathic as well. I think?"

"Let me guess," Buffy begins softly. "You get all indignant. Confront you malefactor, ready to unleash your righteous rage and found out she's just a girl not to dissimilar to you," she finishes. A slight roll of her shoulders as she answers May's gawking by saying, "sorry. Sometimes..." She shrugs again not finishing her explanation.

May nods in understanding. "Yeah, well. You can imagine I came out of that confrontation feeling like the biggest hypocrite. You aren't bad for somebody who's never picked up a basketball before. Heck, you're a natural at it. Better then anybody I've ever played before, faster, great instincts, the entire package. Yet, you couldn't do a thing to stop me. My spider-sense kicks in and it's like I know what you're going to do before you do it, and avoid it with ease. Without even thinking about it. Whether I want to or not." She finishes with a slight shake of her head.

"Its gotta be tough. Doubting yourself like that," Buffy murmurs. She knew what May was talking about, what she had gone through. It's similar to what she went through when she was called as the new slayer. To suddenly be faster, stronger, just better then everyone around you and to have to hold yourself back so nobody finds out what you're really capable of.

Still its only a fraction of what May must have gone through. A star athlete that suddenly has to question if it was her or her powers that defined who she was. Who she is.

The only person that even has a clue as to what she can do is Faith and that's because she possesses the same power. Unlike herself, Faith had reveled in her power. Flaunted them. Buffy doesn't even think Giles knows exactly what her upper limit is. Her friends; Willow, Xander, Cordiela, Oz, Angel, her Mom. None of them knew how much she held herself back, or what she is truly capable of.

If they knew how strong she is, how fast, then there is the chance it would really freak them out and they wouldn't be able to handle it, and she would lose them, which she didn't think she would be able to handle. At times she thinks its her friends, her family that keep her alive. That just by having them to fight for is somehow making her fight better, harder.

"Hey," a loud, boisterous voice booms. "Are you girls about done tying up the court?"

May's scowl darkens as she looks over Buffy's shoulder at the three guys approaching them. Two white men, both with short cropped, almost military- but not quite- buzz cuts. The shorter, thicker of the two, his hair is a shade or two darker then his dirty blonde companion on the other side of the tall, lean, shaven headed black man between them.

He is the one that spoke. He is the one she takes an instant dislike to. She doesn't know why, just that there is something about him she isn't found of.

She's about to say something, a scathing retort about male chauvinism, when Buffy brightly calls out, "Riley," her bubbly exterior popping back into place as she bounces over to him.

Throwing her arms around his neck she hops up, his hands instinctively engulfing her slim waist. Buffy plants a soft, quick peck on his lips. "Hey," he starts off as he puts her back down. "I didn't know you played?" he adds sounding extremely surprised.

"I don't. Not really," she murmurs with a shrug. "May was just showing me..."

"She's a natural," May interjects.

Buffy shakes her head saying, "no, I'm not."

"She's just being modest," she adds with a mischievous smirk.

"You must be May," Riley says with an honest smile splitting his square face.

"Must be," May murmurs.

"Buffy's told me all about you," he continues extending his hand.

"Really," she begins taking his hand. "She hasn't told me a thing about you," she teases matching the force of his handshake.

"That's quite a grip you got there," he says extracting his hand.

May shrugs at him.

"We ready to play now or what?" Forest demands taking a few steps onto the court.

"Hey," May calls out. "We're in the middle of game here."

"May," Buffy says softly. Urgently.

"Please," Forest scoffs. "You weren't doing anything but standing and yapping."

"This isn't necessary," Buffy mutters taking a few steps towards May, grabbing hold of her arm.

May shrugs off Buffy's hand. Riley arches an eyebrow at the gesture. "You want the court, you play us for it. You win its yours," she offers.

"You've got to be kidding me," Forest grumbles. "There's no way I'm playing a couple..."

May tosses the basketball at his face cutting off his last word. "Scared of getting beat by a couple dainty little girls?" she mocks as he barely manages to catch the ball. "Heck, we'll even make it fair. Three on two. This way you can't say we cheated or anything."

"Fine," he hisses tossing the bowl back at her with as much force as she had used. She catches it with ease. "You're on."

She smiles openly at them before she's suddenly jerked to the side by an extremely irate Buffy. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she growls into May's ear as she pulls her a few feet away.

"What?" May asks back.

"We can't play them," Buffy hisses softly. After a quick beat she adds, "and even if we do we can't beat them."

"Why the hell not?" she asks in a mild state of confusion.

Buffy gives her look that says she must be the most dense person in the world. "They're guys. Girls don't go around beating guys at sports."

May's eyes widen in shock. "What kind of antiquated, prehistoric, Neanderthal, bullshit, crap way of thinking is that. Women have been beating men in sports forever. It isn't like we're playing tackle football, or wrestling. Basketball is as much about skill, speed, and precision as it about strength and size," she finishes in a hot rush. then she takes a look over at Riley as Buffy's brain begins working. "Besides, that your boyfriend right?"

"Yeah, kind of," Buffy answers absently.

"And does he know about your calling?" she asks in a hush.

Buffy nods saying, "yeah."

"Good," May replies nodding her head. "And does he know you can kick his butt blindfolded with both hands tied behind your back?"

"I couldn't," Buffy burst out in a soft exclamation. May arches an eyebrow at her and Buffy's shoulders sag under her knowing gaze. "He knows, I just don't think he knows," she says placing extra emphasis on the second, he knows.

"And you don't want to tell because you don't know how he'll react," May comments sagely. "There probably aren't a lot of guys that can handle a woman being stronger then them, and you're afraid of losing what you have. But don't you think it's better to find out now instead of months, maybe years down the road, after you're already deeply invested in the relationship, or are you just going to hold yourself back for the rest of your life just so you don't bruise his ego?"

"Are you always this annoying?" Buffy inquires glowering at the younger girl.

May shrugs as she says, "hey. My father's genius in case you haven't heard. And my mom's an expert on human nature."

"Shrink?" Buffy guesses.

"Actress," May corrects. Buffy chuckles as they turn back around towards the two patiently waiting men and Forest.

"So what are we playing to?" he demands with a sneer.

May returns his stare with a glare of her own. "I was just going to keep playing until you guys are begging for mercy," she replies with an evil smile.

Forest stays low, arms stretched wide, weaving up and down taking up as much space as he possibly can while May dribbles the ball right in front of him, a lazy smile on her lips. She takes a hard step to the right, he jumps at the move. Only she takes an easy step back to where she had been. Her grin widening, becoming predatory.

She had him, whenever she wanted him. He knew it. She knew it. Everyone knew it. Now she just waited for the right moment to blow past him.

Soon. Very, very soon. Buffy was just under the rim, jogging lazily across the floor. Once she was about three quarters of the way into the left corner. A couple of seconds.

She had to give these guys credit. They're taking their thumping, thirty-four to twenty-nine, in good stride. No belly aching or whining. No quit. No finger pointing. they simply realized they were up against superior basketball players. And she, along with Buffy, were playing at a vastly subdued level.

Right on cue, just like they had planned, Buffy quickly spins heading back the way she had just came, with a burst of speed. Riley turns on his heel to follow, but his larger girth enables Buffy to pull away from him by the second step. Graham sees what is happening and moves to cover her.

At that moment May drives hard to the right again. Forest jumps to cut her off. It takes his mind a split second to catch up with what his eyes have just seen. The basketball sails between his legs, as May twirls, on a dime, to her left and blows past him, picking up the dribble as she goes.

Riley sees she has a clear path to the hoop. Graham sees the same thing. Both move to block her path. May jumps, a moment before the two men, spinning to the right she passes the ball behind her back- without looking- to Buffy, as she gets hit head on by Graham. While Riley crashes into her at the same moment sending her sprawling to the ground.

Buffy catches the ball on the move, stops, and shoots in one smooth motion. The ball arcs high into the air before beginning its descent, like an orange moon falling out of the sky. It drops through the rim, through the net, barely catching the very bottom.

"Yes!" she shouts triumphantly pumping her fist. Not that there had ever been any real doubt about her making the shot or not.

"Shit!" Forest curses kicking at the ground, scuffing his foot across the black top.

Graham reaches down offering May a hand up. "Sorry about that," he says sincerely.

May takes his hand as she wipes a trace of blood from her lip. She gives her head a shake. "Don't worry about it," she says as he pulls her up. "It's all part of the game."

"You should have that looked at," Graham says motioning to her lip. "It might need stitches."

May sucks her bottom lip into her mouth. "I'll be sure to do that once we're done here," she tells him.

"We are done," Buffy informs her in a no nonsense voice. "You were suppose to be back at the house a while ago."

"Right," May answers drawing the word out. "I should probably get going. Don't want Aunt Joyce angry."

"Give me a minute and I'll go with you," Buffy says. "I just need to talk to Riley."

May nods in understanding. "Take your time," she replies as Riley and Buffy walk a few steps away from them.

A nervous smile flickers across Buffy's lips, there and gone and back again, as she glances up at Riley. "So," she starts off.

"So," Riley agrees. "After a moment he adds, "that was some game."

"Yeah, some game," Buffy replies glancing down at the tar.

"You were great."

"Really?" she asks looking up at him hopefully.

"Yeah," he returns enthusiastically. "That was really your first time playing?"

"Aside from what May showed me. Yeah," she answers with a small nod.

Riley nods his head as he thinks about something. A moment later he asks, "and thats because of you being the slayer?" Buffy starts her nod even before he finishes the question. "What about May? Is it something that runs in your family?"

"She's a second cousin," Buffy replies. "Twice removed."

Riley smiles at her humor as he says, "I know you two don't look a lot alike, but watching you two play. There wasn't a lot of difference as to whose better."

"May's better. A lot better," Buffy responds. "I'm just a fast learner, plus I have all the extra benefits; speed, strength, agility, accuracy from being the slayer. Does it freak you out?"

"Knowing you can kick my ass?" he inquires with a little shrug. "I know a lot of woman that can give me a run for my money. Not a lot of them can do it so easily. I'd love for us to get together and do a little training. Some sparring?"

She grins happily. Leaning up she plants a deep kiss on his lips. After a moment she drops back down. "I'd love to, but I have to get May back home."

Riley nods saying, "whenever you want to." He bends back down giving her another kiss. One just as deep as the previous one.

Buffy's smile widens as she steps back. She ducks her head slightly as she turns away. A few quick steps and she latches onto May's arm. The two of them walk away with their heads together. Forest watches them go with a scowl.

"Hey," Riley says snapping him out of his haze.

"I think we just found our hostile," he tells them.

Graham looks at him asking, "what are you talking about?"

"May," Forest answers. "Same height, build, weight."

"Get off it man," Riley growls. "You're just sore because they kicked our ass."

"She showed up the same day, and yeah. I'm pissed. There's no way a couple of little girls should have been able to beat us. You wanna say that Buffy's special, some kind of hero. Fine, but there's something off with Parker and I'm going to find out what it is."

________________________________________________________________________

Right Now - Van Halen

Don't wanna wait til tomorrow  
Why put it off another day?  
One by one, little problems  
Build up, and stand in our way.

Oh  
  
One step ahead, one step behind it  
Now ya gotta run to get even  
Make future plans I'll dream about yesterday, hey!  
Come on turn, turn this thing around  
  
(Right now)

Hey!

It's your tomorrow  
(Right now)

Come on

It's everything  
(Right now)

Catch your magic moment  
Do it right here and now  
It means everything  
  
Miss a beat, you lose a rhythm  
An nothin' falls into place.

No!  
Only missed by a fraction  
Slipped a little off your pace.

Oh!  
  
The more things you get

The more you want  
Just trade in one for another  
Working so hard to make it easy  
Whoa, got to turn.

Come on, turn this thing around  
  
(Right now)

Hey!

It's your tomorrow  
(Right now)

Come on

It's everything  
(Right now)

Catch that magic moment  
Do it right here and now  
It means everything  
  
Said a lie to me   
Right now  
What are ya waitin' for?

Oh!

Yeah!  
Right now  
  
  
(Right now)

Hey!

It's your tomorrow  
(Right now)

Come on

It's everything  
(Right now)

Catch that magic moment  
And do it right, right now

(Right now)  
Oh, right now!  
  
It's what's happening  
Right here and now  
Right now

It's right now  
Oh!  
Tell me, what are ya waitin' for?  
Turn this thing around


	3. Chap 2: Right Now pt2

Chapter Three: Right Now

Forest continued to glare at Buffy and May as the pair walked away. His baleful gaze hot enough he was surprised the two of them hadn't burst into flames. He didn't like losing, and he definitely didn't like being made to look the fool. Two things the pair managed to accomplish with childlike ease tonight.

More then that though, Forest hated hostiles; and anything that wasn't hundred percent, bona fide, Grade A human, was a hostile.

No matter what anybody claimed.

* * *

"You were right," Buffy said having a hard time keeping the jubilation out of her voice. It was much better knowing how Riley felt rather then trying to guess at his feeling and making assumptions based solely on half heard conversations that would end abruptly when she made her presence known.

May glanced at the blonde who practically bounced along at her side. "About what?"

"Riley," Buffy answered as if the answer should be as obvious to everyone that wasn't her, as it was to her. "He's okay with me being the slayer. With me being stronger, faster… a better fighter then him."

"That's great."

Buffy stopped, finally picking up on the distracted note in May's tone. Since she was holding onto May's forearm at the time, she pulled the younger girl to a stop. With overwhelming concern in her voice Buffy asked, "What's wrong?"

The young brunette shrugged and said, "it's this town. Its got my spider-sense hard wired."

"I thought it wasn't active around me? That I was sort of a anti hell mouth field for you?" Buffy joked lightly.

Her eyes drifted back towards the Basketball court Buffy and she had just left. "Then maybe it doesn't have anything to do with the hell mouth?" May whispered thoughtfully.

"Okay," Buffy murmured as she pulled May back into a slow walk. She wanted to get May to Giles' and then home before she headed out on patrol. It wasn't that Buffy thought May wouldn't be able to handle herself, she knew May could. She had seen her.

That was part of the problem, May could handle herself, but she wasn't killer. She held life, any life – even a vampire's – in the highest regard. While May was here Buffy thought it would be best served to keep her out of the fray. "What does it feel like it has to with?" Buffy asked after a short pause.

"Nothing immediate," May began as she matched the pace Buffy set with ease, "like something's going to jump out of the bushes at us, kind of danger… but something that's there; watching, waiting, planning."

Buffy nodded at the sentiment. "This is the hell mouth and evil abounds… I can't believe I just used abounds in an actual sentence. Anyway, there's plenty of evil things in town that are willing to wait before doing anything evilly."

May shot an indignant glare at the blonde. "Thanks a lot. I feel so much better knowing some critter is looking at me like I'm a tasty little morsel, but are willing to wait before trying to tenderize me."

"No problem," Buffy replied with a broad grin. She was glad that May seemed capable of with whatever life through at her. She didn't think there were too many people that would keep their sense of humor when lost in a reality far removed from their own.

* * *

Willow cast an apprehensive glance over the rim of the tomb she was reading. Once again she was pleasantly surprised to see that a skirmish hadn't broken out while she had been busy reading. The tension in the air was thick enough that even Buffy would have a hard time chopping through it with one of her axes. With a subtle shift of her eyes she managed to sweep her gaze – unobtrusively – over the room's occupants.

Anya was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa from her, with Xander sandwiched between them, completely oblivious to the glare his girlfriend was directing at the brunette sitting with her back towards the ex-vengeance demon – on a stool at Giles' breakfast counter.

May seemed as oblivious to Anya's glare as Xander. Only there was a tenseness to the set of her shoulders that hadn't been there prior to the couples arrival. Of course Buffy had been present before Xander and Anya's arrival, working hard to negotiate a truce between Giles and May.

One that both the watcher and the teenager seemed more then content to honor. Their way of honoring it was to stoutly ignore each other.

Of a more immediate concern to Willow was the fact that she was aware of May's exquisite physique; her lithe, tone and supple body. May wasn't the first girl that Willow found herself checking out. If she was honest with herself it had been going on for awhile. Before she even started dating Oz. It wasn't until she met Tara, and their budding relationship, that she had even been able to admit it to herself, let alone someone else. Not that she had yet. She knew she liked Tara, maybe even as more then a friend, and that was probably why she had finally allowed the blinders to be lowered.

There was still that stigma present in society that frowned upon homosexuality. A stigma Willow wasn't sure if she was ready to face, especially considering the fact she still couldn't, not even in her mind, name herself gay.

She thought, that for Tara, it was an obstacle she would be able to overcome.

Now all she had to do was discern whether or not Tara was so inclined, or if the blonde Wicca was simply a kindred spirit, that the only magic between them was their spell casting.

She wished there was some way that she could find out what she wanted to know. Asking was always a prime option, if she wanted to risk what she already had. Something she absolutely didn't want to do.

There was always magic, but ever since the incident with the, "My Will Be Done," spell she had been shying away from using magic to solve every little problem that cropped up. Especially when that spell might affect the sanctity of a person's mind.

May let out a soft, but extremely disgruntle, sigh as she straightened up, closing the book. She was restless, plus she was tired of Anya's glare boring holes into her back. Everything had been fine when Buffy left, at that time Anya hadn't been there.

When she had first shown up, May had tried to apologize to the dark haired woman. Her attempted peace overture had been soundly rebuked with a threat that made May's blood run cold with its sincerity. Xander had instantly called her down on it and Anya had immediately muttered something so unclear May wasn't sure what Anya had said. Or if it was even said in English?

"Willow," She said suddenly as she swiveled around on the stool.

"Yeah," Willow choked out with a look on her face that said she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

May decided not to address whatever it was that had Willow looking so guilty. "Sunnydale U has a chem. lab right."

"Sure," she answered just a little quicker then she would have normally, "in with all the other science buildings. It wouldn't be a problem for me to show you where… Tomorrow if you want?"

May shook her head as she said, "if you could just draw me a map?"

"Um, sure," she answered with a shrug. Gently, not wanting to upset Giles by mistreating one of his books, Willow placed the old manuscript on the table.

"If you don't mind my inquiring," Giles began. Lowering the book he's been reading he shifted slightly as he looked over his shoulder at May. "Why, exactly do you wish to know that bit of trivia?"

"She probably wants to build a chemical bomb that…"

"What the hell is your problem?" May snapped cutting Anya off. "I make one comment about not wanting to sleep with your boyfriend… a statement that would put most women at ease, but you treat it like it's the most heinous insult…"

May whirled around a fraction of a second before Giles' front door banged open. Her spider-sense had spiked slightly, but being on the hell-mouth – that constant low ebb tingle – prevented her from picking up on the subtle change.

Like when Buffy and she were leaving the playground. It wasn't an immediate danger. More like the level of Danger had just risen.

But she would be surprised if the young man; with bleach blonde hair, pale – almost luminescent – skin, shallow checks combined with high arching bones; piercing, ice blue eyes, an entirely black ensemble from – if she wasn't mistaken – a woman's leather duster that ended just above his ankles, to a pair of not to out of style Doc Martins, his jeans, and the two sizes too small t-shirt was a danger to anything other then a decent fashion sense.

"Bloody," Giles cursed under his breath seeing Spike standing in his door.

"You really should have that lock checked watcher," the blonde informed the ex-librarian with an evil smirk. "Any old person can just come strolling on in."

Giles took a deep breath, calming himself a little before asking, "what do you want Spike?" The venom in his voice was unmistakable. It made May wonder exactly what was between the two Englishmen.

With an almost too pleasant smile Spike started off, "just stopped in to see if you had a pint… None of that pig swallop you keep around for the grand poofter mind you. Don't worry your balding, middle-aged, overstuffed head of yours watcher," Spike sneered steeping more fully into the room. What he had been about to say vanished from his mind as his eyes settled, for the first time, on May as she tensed. They roved over her body with an appreciative hunger.

May's spider-sense surged again and it was all she could do not to lash out. There was simply something wrong him. Something that put her on edge.

Spike could feel something different about her. Blood that burned just a little hotter. With just a little more oomph to it. "And just what tasty little treat do we have here? Council of Wankers send out a replacement? Finally decide the Slayer's not doing her job… playing all nice with the big nasties?"

Xander rose up from the couch, his chest puffed out as he glowered at the vampire. "What are you doing here Spike?"

He doesn't even spare the boy a glance as he said, "exactly what I said you bleeding git, stopped by for a pint. Ever since those Army prats showed up the butcher shop's been closing early… Since I'm not overly welcomed at Willy's right this bloody moment," he stopped feeling the incredulous stares from nearly everyone in the room.

Aside from a quick glance upon entering Willow hadn't even looked his way, her head bent over a sheet of paper.

May was watching him as well. Poised, ready to move at the drop of the hat.

"What?" Spike growled casting his gaze over the room. "It's not like I need to make some… bloody hell! Where's the slayer? I'm in the mood to kill something… Why she keeps you useless posers around, unless it's for bait, I'll never know?"

"How about, because we're her friends?" Xander stated. A snide comment on Spike's friendless status ready to spring forth.

"They're her friends," Anya cuts in bluntly as she pointed at Xander and Willow. Then she directed her finger toward Giles, "and he's her watcher. Even though he's been fired. And she's some type of mutant super hero stranded in our reality," she added pointing at May. "While I'm only here because Xander is capable of giving me many orgasms," she finished brightly.

"Anya," Xander groaned at girlfriend's bluntness. He turned around to face her, leaving Spike at his back. An act that in years past, maybe only a week ago would have gotten him killed. If the thought crossed his mind it didn't show. "That's private. You don't need to go telling everyone our private business."

"Please," Anya snorted. "Spike's a vampire… With his sense of smell…"

"Just the image I'd want prancing through my head… The bloated sod rutting like a walrus on a beach, thank you very much." His snarl was loud enough to drown out Anya. He made sure of that.

Anya gave way not wanting to anger the temperamental vampire. Just because he couldn't hurt humans anymore didn't mean he couldn't hurt a human who had been a vengeance demon. And she didn't see any point in finding out.

May's mind was reeling at Anya's revelation. Spike was a vampire. He didn't give off the same sense of danger as the one she encountered the other night. It was more, but at the same time less.

Giles slipped his glasses off, placing them on top of the book that was resting on the coffee table. He stood up, visibly relaxing as he did so. "Have you thought about the conversation we had the other day?"

"There was a lot of useless prattle spewing out of your gob last time I was your house guest. One of them in particular you want me to dredge up?"

"You're a vampire?" May finally blurted out.

Spike shift his gaze to lock eyes with Giles. "Bit slow on the up take, isn't she? Figured a slayer be a bit smarter…" He left the statement hanging there.

"I'm not a slayer," May informed him.

At the same moment Giles said, "She isn't a slayer."

"She's not a slayer?" Spike asked with knitted brows.

"Weren't you listening to me…"

"I avoid it whenever possible," Spike said cutting Anya off.

"…when I told you she was some kind of mutant super-hero stranded here from a different reality?" She finished saying, speaking right along with Spike.

May rolled her eyes slightly. Anya was close enough that it didn't matter if she was off on a few details. Minor ones at that.

"Finished," Willow said as she held the piece of paper out to May.

May turned around at the sound of Willow's voice. "Thanks," she said taking the piece of paper from the red-head.

As May scanned the sheet of paper with the detailed map Willow had just finished; Giles said, "You never did tell us why you want to know he location of Sunnydale University's chemical laboratory?"

She shrugged a little, not paying that much attention to Giles or anybody else as she studied the map. Still she said, "I've got no money… I'm running low on webbing and they've got all the supplies I need."

"You're going to steal?" Willow gasped, shocked by May's admittance.

She glanced up at Willow, and unable to resist the little voice whispering in her air, "well… If I happen to run into somebody while I'm there I'll be sure to ask if it's alright."

An extremely relieved expression settled on Willow's innocent face. "You will?" She questioned sounding only a little naive.

"Just for you," May replied sincerely as she moved around Spike to reach the stool she had been sitting on. Reaching down she picked up her backpack. Shoving a few odds and ends into the carryall she headed for the door.

Giles was going to say something, but with the exception of Buffy and Spike – Giles has to grudgingly admit – May is one of the few people capable of handling the dark and dangerous streets of Sunnydale with a minimum of difficulty. Buffy's account of the brunette's fight with the lone vampire was proof of that.

At least it was for Giles.

Spike took a look around at the room full of people just as May reached the door. It was readily apparent to her that, while Buffy's friends didn't like the vampire, they were also fairly comfortable around him.

"Finally looks like there's someone in this chicken outfit that isn't afraid to have a bit of fun," he mumbled. Turning on his heel he strode out the door after May. A cigarette popped into his mouth as if by magic, his lighter clicked and flared to life and he casually lights his cigarette as he caught up with May. His lighter clicked close and disappeared into his duster as he asked, "you still plan on nicking something, right?" in a casual tone.

"If by nick, you mean steal… then yeah. I plan on nicking something alright." After giving her answer May glanced over at the vampire. A curious light in her eyes. "I've got a question… if you don't mind?"

Spike shrugged indifferently, feeling a sense of peace wash over him now that he was on his way to do something. Even if it only was committing an act of petty larceny. "Ask away."

"Well, it's just… you don't act a lot like I thought a vampire would?"

A small, mischievous smirk curved his lips as he said, "you mean not going all grrr and trying to kill everyone?" Smoke billowed out of his mouth.

May nodded, a slight dip and rise as she asked, "why?"

"It's because I'm a noble vampire," he answered beaming with pride.

"A noble vampire?" A truck load of skepticism filled her voice.

"I'm one of the good guys," he responded puffing out his chest slightly "Got my soul."

"Really?"

"No," Spike said unable to hold a straight face any longer. His wide grin nearly split his face in two as he laughs long and hard. He almost doubled over as his body shook with laughter.

* * *

Xander's gaze settled on the darkness beyond Giles' open front door as the librarian moved to close it. "Do you really think it's safe… letting May go off with Spike?"

Giles shrugged as he swung the door shut. "I can't see why not. With that chip in his head, Spike can't harm any human."

"That's just it. May isn't exactly what you'd call completely human." Xander started as he ran a hand through his hair while Giles stared at him with uncomprehending eyes. He glanced over at Willow and muttered, "a little help here Wills."

Willow looked up from the floor and whatever she had found of such interest. "Well if I understand May's explanation then Xander's right. Her father was bitten by a radioactive spider, altering his DNA. These genetic alterations were then passed on to May which means there's every possibility that Spike's chip might not recognize her as human."

Giles withering glare settled on Xander. "And you wait until now before bringing this up?"

"Did you want me to bring it up in front of Spike? We all know how Spike is about killing things. Since he found out the chip doesn't go off when he fights a demon…"

"I suppose not," Giles murmured softly not wanting to credit Xander with making the right decision. If he had to do that the boy was going to be even more insufferable then he already was.

"She isn't going to ask anybody for permission, is she?" Willow murmured softly into the silence. No one present had the heart to confirm the red-head suspicions.

* * *

Right Now - Garth Brooks

Maybe it's the movies, maybe it's the books  
Maybe it's the government and all the other crooks  
Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's the parents  
Maybe it's the gangs, or the colors that we're wearin'  
Maybe it's the high schools, maybe it's the teachers  
Tattoos, pipe bombs underneath the bleachers  
Maybe it's the music, maybe it's the crack  
Maybe it's the bible, or could it be the lack

Come on people, now  
Smile on your brother  
Everybody get together  
Try to love one another, right now...right now

Okay, maybe it's the papers, maybe it's the family  
Maybe it's the internet, radio, TV  
Maybe it's the president, maybe it's the last one  
Maybe it's the one before that  
Maybe it's the athletes, maybe it's the dads  
Maybe it's the sports fans, agents, fads  
Maybe it's the homeless, aliens, immigrants  
Maybe it's life, don't tell me that it's imminent

Come on people now  
Smile on your brother  
Everybody get together  
Try to love one another right now

Come on people now  
Smile on your brother  
Everybody get together  
Try to love one another right now  
You gotta love one another

Maybe it's the fallout, maybe it's the ozone  
Maybe it's the chemicals, the radiation, cell phones  
Maybe it's the magazines, maybe it the next page  
Lotteries, fast food, bad news, road rage  
Maybe it the unions, big business  
Maybe it's the KKK and the skinheads  
Maybe it's the daughters, maybe it's the sons  
Maybe it's the brothers of the mothers or the guns

Come on people now  
Smile on your brother  
Everybody get together  
Try to love one another right now

Come on people now  
Smile on your brother  
Everybody get together  
Try to love one another right now

(You know, if we don't talk about it  
It ain't gonna get better)

We gotta love one another

(So, whadda say, let's talk)

Maybe it's the parks, maybe it's the sex  
Maybe it's the talk shows, maybe it's a reflex  
Maybe it's the taxes, maybe it's the system  
Judges, lawyers, prisons  
Maybe it's the Catholics, maybe it's the Protestants  
Maybe it's the addicts, and the hippies and communists  
Maybe it's a fashion, maybe it's a trend  
Maybe it's the future... maybe it's the end


	4. Chap 3: Don't Ask Me Why

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters of Buffy, Angel, and any other show that are unfortunate enough to be used here belong to other people. Song Lyrics belong to the artist listed at the bottom of the page; in this case Billy Joel.

* * *

Chapter Four: Don't Ask Me Why

Riley stood at rigid attention inside Professor Walsh's office. Aside from a couple file cabinets, a desk, a pair of chairs, and a few personal items the room was devoid of any type of personality. The few objects that sat on the desk; an in and out basket, ink blotter, monitor, keyboard, and a neatly stacked pile of vanilla folders did very little to alter its appearance.

Standing in her office Riley wondered why Walsh had called him in. As far as he knew everything was operating well within parameters. Hostile Seventeen's escape had been the base's only miscue.

Now though, with her cool, unreadable gaze settled on him he wasn't so sure. Professor Walsh had never before been put out with him. Never before been angry with him or doubted his decisions. A knot had formed in the pit of his stomach and his shoulders felt like a compressed spring just waiting to be released. He didn't like the acid burning along his nerves, nor the ice coating his veins.

For several long moments she simply watched the tall, well built, Special Forces trained soldier standing at ease in front of her. Agent Finn had always been a top of the line operative. One she believed would never give her cause to doubt.

Just like every other soldier, technician, and scientist assigned to the Initiative; Riley Finn had been hand selected according to a very specific criteria. One that allowed her to pick those most susceptible to indoctrination. Those that had been subjected to dogma and propaganda all their lives. People that were not only use to having somebody else make the difficult decisions for them, but also preferred it.

Those with strong religious backgrounds were, by far the most malleable. It ran down after that, a strong military upbringing helped. Add in a healthy dose of racial bigotry and she had the perfect soldier to capture subterraneans and not ask any question about her research.

Or oppose her methods.

"Agent Finn." Her voice was firm, with a steel edge. It seemed to hold all the answers even before she asked the question, like that was simply a formality. "Recently some of your decisions have been… less then advantageous to our goals, to attaining the Initiative's objectives. This so called relationship with the Summers girl…"

"I don't see were who I date…" He began hotly. It was the first time he had lost his temper with her.

"When they're a threat to this operation," she cut in matching his tone before reigning herself in. Riley had to be handled carefully. Pushed and prodded and led exactly where she needed him to be. Shove him the wrong way now and she would lose everything. It was all within her grasp. So close she could almost reach out and touch it. Grab it.

"I'm sorry," she said taking a calming breath. "Normally; who you see socially, intimately, wouldn't be any concern of mine after a rudimentary background check." She took another breath as if preparing to give him bad news. Which for Riley she supposed it would be bad news. "Unfortunately when I'm presented with a breach of protocols of such magnitude I have no other course of action but to initiate an investigation."

"What breach of protocols?" He demanded. Then just remembering protocols he belatedly adds, "if I may ask, mam?"

"Buffy Summers claimed this young woman, May… no last name, is her cousin from New York?"

"That's right," he answered stiffly. His right cheek twitched slightly.

Walsh nodded thoughtfully as she hefted one of the vanilla colored folders. She flipped it open and casually scanned the contents. "I don't suppose it would surprise you to learn that Miss Summers has no relations; distant or otherwise, living in New York. She has an Aunt and a few cousins in Colorado, an Uncle in Los Angeles, and her father has been spending a good deal of time in the south of Spain."

"Where did… why would you run a check on Buffy?"

"Forrest was concerned about some of the decisions you've been making lately. Like your failure to report a possible HST."

"May isn't…"

"I was referring to Miss Summers," Walsh cut in.

"Buffy isn't a hostile," he responded heatedly.

"Really?" Walsh questioned looking down at the folder in her hands.

"Really," Riley answered with a note of challenge.

"Enhanced strength, speed, reflexes." Her finger slide across the page as she read from it. "Superior fighting skills." She looked up at Riley. "Shall I continue?"

"She's not a hostile," Riley insisted fiercely, but without the anger. He knew if he could just get Professor Walsh to listen to him that she would understand.

Walsh tilted her head slightly while she looked up at him. Her expression was one of guarded curiosity. "If she isn't an HST, what is she?"

Riley took a deep breath. He knew this wasn't going to be easy for Professor Walsh to hear. It hadn't been easy for him to hear it either. "She's an ordinary girl…"

"Not according to this report."

"…with a destiny," he finished ignoring the comment. "She was chosen."

"By who?"

He shrugged uncomfortably as he said, "I don't know. God, the universe, the powers that be," he added with another shrug. "She doesn't know either. Just that since about her fifteenth birthday it's been her destiny to kill vampires and other hostiles. Since sixteen she's been doing that in Sunnydale."

Walsh rose slowly, drawing her cheeks in slightly as she ran her long fingers through her dark blonde hair. Setting her feet she faced Riley squarely. She had already heard most of what he had just said from Forrest, only without the passion.

It gave her the opportunity to craft the response best suited to reign Agent Finn back in. She didn't believe in god – any of them. If it couldn't be measured, studied, dissected, or quantified then it had no place in her universe. Believing somebody had some sort of golden destiny handed down from on high was tantamount to heresy as far as she was concerned.

"Maybe," she conceded. "But don't you think it's far more plausible that what she is telling you is a carefully crafted lie; a lie she may not even be aware of. A lie passed down from her parents so that she wouldn't know, or even suspect the truth about herself, or where her super human powers come from? Perhaps it's something that has been told for generations? Perhaps the Summers side is ashamed of their heritage and May is here to bring them back into the fold? Maybe that's why there are no records of relatives in New York? Don't you think that would be the kind of thing Buffy would want to know about? One way or the other. Wouldn't she be grateful for finally knowing the truth?"

"I suppose?" Riley said with feigned certainty. Fact was he didn't really know anything, except that Professor Walsh was going to go after Buffy no matter what. Which meant he had to get to Buffy before she did.

* * *

"Don't see why you had to get yourself all gussied up for a bit of B and E… a little petty larceny on the side," Spike commented dryly while he blatantly strolled down the middle of the wide hall. The thud of each heavy footfall on the white specked, gray linoleum tiled floor echoed with alarming clarity.

As far as May was concerned anyway.

She clung to the ceiling, scurrying along silently like the arachnid that gave her father his powers. What little noises she did make were covered up by the robust din Spike was making. Noise that made May wince internally with every sound.

Her red and blue costume melted into the shadows, making the girl all but invisible. She glanced down at the dark clad vampire. She often wondered why it wasn't more disorientating; walking, talking, seeing the entire world upside down. For her it just seemed that was the way things were meant to be.

What amazed her more then anything though, was the fact that she was walking – unconventionally as it was – down a dark corridor with a vampire and her spider-sense was emanating that same low level buzz she felt everywhere in this town, unless Buffy was around, without being any worse. Once they had gotten a respectable distance away from Giles apartment – flat as the watcher liked to call his living space – her spider-sense had returned to that dull throb she had become accustomed to.

It told her that, for whatever reason, Spike felt he needed to come across as extremely aggressive and overly hostile. From the brief interaction she had witnessed May couldn't fault Spike. If people treated her like they did Spike she doubted she'd spend anymore time around them then necessary. May knew she was probably reading more into the situation then it actually meant; she normally did. After all she didn't know these people, not really, not after just a few days. It simply felt right.

It struck her as odd that she didn't get a stronger sense of danger from him. The vampire in the alley had caused her spider-sense to jump all over the place when they were bantering; never mind when she had been within touching distance.

May put it in perspective with simplicity.

Then she had been fighting for her life; somebody else's life. Right now she was committing a felony.

"Don't feel like having my face plastered all over the late night news," May finally answered after a brief pause.

Spike snorted softly as his booted foot scuffed the floor leaving a black mark. "Don't have to worry 'bout that little problem myself. Vampires don't photograph… film doesn't hold our image, sort of like how mirrors don't show our reflections… unless you got yourself some kind of mojo in the works." A fond smile slid unnoticed across his lips as he remembered one of his first encounters with the slayer; when he filmed a fight between her and one of those nameless drones that had served the Annoying One.

Before that she had just been another in a long line of slayers he had tracked down; one of the few he had actually managed to locate. The first time he had fought Buffy, with her mother coming out of nowhere to save her life; he had known she was different.

That she had broke the rules.

Reminded him a bit of Nikki Wood like that.

Spike had given her the chance to walk away. He wasn't about to kill her in front of her kid. He might be a monster, but he wasn't Angelus, not that the Grand Poofter would ever challenge a slayer to a one on one fight, not till he had softened them up a bit first by taking away every reason they had to live. For Angelus, Wood's little nipper would have been the coup de grace.

For Spike it had been the reason to walk away.

If she hadn't picked the fight up a few hours later… some other nasty would have sunk its teeth into her. He wasn't about to roll over and play dead for her. She knew the rules of the game; she was a hunter, a killer, just like he was and she wanted to dance just like he did. No rules, with quarter neither asked nor given. Just two warriors doing what they were born to do.

He gave his head a morbid shake.

When he had first fought Buffy he thought she and Nikki were a lot alike. When he watched that video he realized just how wrong he was. Buffy was her own slayer; spunky and sassy, inventive as all hell, with a biting retort or sharp quip always at the ready

Buffy didn't break the rules.

She had never bothered to learn them in the first place.

Demonstrated by the fact that instead of staking the Grand Poof like any good little slayer would have; she consorted with him, tried to help him, fell in love with him, and finally had to destroy him.

It was tragic really.

If she had done what she was supposed to do in the first place she would have saved herself years of pain and suffering. She would have been speared so much anguish.

Spike gave himself a mental shake. _No need to start feeling pity for the bloody chit_, he scolded himself. "What is it we're doing here? And don't hand me that special flavor Kool-Aid crap either."

May smiled remembering their previous conversation earlier that night; when she had quickly changed from her street clothes and into her costume. He had asked where they were going and she had made some offhand comment, that she couldn't even remember a couple minutes later about a special brand of Kool-Aid.

Spike had been more interested in attempting to get a good look at her hidden treasures – fortunately she had mastered the art of the quick change long ago, down to under four seconds – to make much of the comment at the time, but she knew he had filed it away somewhere in that brain of his. May had seen it in plenty like him; they just seemed to remember everything; waiting for that opportune moment when you were vulnerable, off guard, or out of sorts…

And wham.

They hit you with it.

Sinking you a little deeper.

That wasn't what Spike did; but then Spike wasn't all that evil either. Sure he could be a jerk. That by itself wasn't a criminal offense. It just made him a jerk.

The pair came to a stop as they reached the heavy door barring their path. Spike eyed the door speculatively, "want me to take care of this?"

May shook her head as she said, "thanks, but I'd rather not set off any silent alarms." She moved back to the air vent in the ceiling. "I need to replenish my supply of webbing and I'm hoping the chem. lab here will have everything I need to make a fresh batch." The vent popped off quietly after her working on it during her explanation. "Up you go."

For a moment a disbelieving expression creased his brow. If he was running this show it would be a solid boot to the door and grab what he wanted. Only if he was running this show they wouldn't be here. A collage chem. lab possessed nothing he wanted.

If he was in charge they would be rousting some all night liquor store and having themselves a little party later. Her figure was trim and athletic; the red and blue spandex she wore fit like a second skin yet left everything to the imagination. She wasn't buxom like Harmony, and she gave the impression that getting her out of that red and blue get up would take him infinitely more effort then it took her to get into. Some things were worth the effort, and one thing a hundred and twenty years as a vampire gave him that he had lacked when he was human, was confidence.

He knew he could get her out of that costume if he wanted. All he would have to do is turn on the charm and he would have her eating out of his hand. He could be charming when he wanted, he had Harmony after all. Though thinking about it he realized that really wasn't saying very much; now if he had been bedding the slayer that would have been something to boast.

With a growl he wiped the smirk from his face and the image of the slayer's nude form from his mind. He didn't know how it had gotten there. "Things I put up with," he gripped in a loud whisper. He shrugged indifferently then jumped, slid into the small opening that was just wide enough for his narrow, leather clad shoulders to fit through. He grabbed the lip, and like everything else he did, pulled himself up much too noisily.

May sighed as she listened to him. Slowly she backed into the air duct and pulled the vent back into place behind her.

* * *

Buffy tossed restlessly as she tried to sleep; her blankets a tangled mess. With the dreams that kept her up most nights it wasn't that unusual for the slayer. Her sleep tonight wasn't interrupted by prophetic dreams depicting horrific events.

Tonight it was concern for a friend's well being.

May had left Giles' apartment in Spike's company. While she didn't trust Spike, nobody with an once of intelligence would trust Spike as far as the tiny blonde was concerned; she did however think that Spike knew he would be nothing but a pile of dust in the proverbial heartbeat if he got any of her friends hurt, or god forbade, killed.

Not that any of her other friends would have gone off alone with Spike.

Something else she was going to have a talk with May about.

For somebody that seemed to have a deep well of common sense; May certainly did make some rather dubious decisions.

When Willow had told her about May going off with Spike, Buffy had wanted to blame Giles and the redhead and all of her other friends. It was something of a minor miracle, but Buffy had managed to hold her tongue and not stick her foot in her mouth. After a moments thought she realized that none of them would have been able to stop May even if they had tried.

Buffy didn't start to get worried though until she had a brief conversation with her mother. She had been rather circumspect and didn't let on that May wasn't with her. She hadn't seen any need to worry her, not when Joyce had taken such an instant liking to the May. It was very similar to her reaction to Faith.

Back in Los Angeles Buffy never would have taken her mom to be so… mothering. It was the only way she could describe her.

Before the divorce, and their move to Sunnydale, her mom had been something of a socialite who was a little too found of the ambrosia. That all changed since they came here, although Buffy thought she used her Gallery showings as…

A soft knock on her door pulled Buffy out of her light, fitful doze. She was on her feet in an instant; with nothing more on then a pair of baggy shorts and a loose fitting tank top she made her way to the door. She didn't have to worry about waking Willow since she was studying with Tara, a witch she had meant when they had all lost their voices.

Pulling the door open Buffy blinked in surprise. Riley stood in her doorway. While she was always happy to see her boyfriend, in the early morning hours wasn't their normal time to get together.

Riley saw Buffy standing in her doorway; a sense of wonder filled him as it always did whenever he gazed upon her. She was a bright ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak world. He didn't care what Professor Walsh tried to convince him of, he would never believe anything else of Buffy.

She saw the sat of his jaw, like he had the worst news in the world to tell her.

A sense of dread filled her.

"What happened?" she demanded harshly. She tried to keep the emotion out of her voice. It didn't work.

"We need to talk," he said in quiet seriousness.

* * *

Don't Ask Me Why - Billy Joel

All the waiters in your grand cafe  
Leave their tables when you blink  
Every dog must have his everyday  
Every drunk must have his drink  
Don't wait for answers  
Just take your chances  
Don't ask me why

All you life you had to stand in line  
Still you're standing on your feet  
All your choices made you change your mind  
Now your calender's complete  
Don't wait for answers  
Just take your chances  
Don't ask me why

You can say the human heart  
Is only make-believe  
And I am only fighting fire with fire  
But you are still a victim  
Of the accidents you leave  
As sure as I'm a victim of desire

All the servants in your new hotel  
Throw their roses at your feet  
Fool them all but baby I can tell  
You're no stranger to the street  
Don't ask for favors  
Don't talk to strangers  
Don't ask me why

Yesterday you were an only child  
Now your ghosts have gone away  
You can kill them in the classic style  
Now you, "parlez vous francais"  
Don't look for answers  
You took your chances  
Don't ask me why  
Don't ask me why


	5. Chap 4: A Little Less conversation pt1

Chapter Four: A Little Less Conversation – Part One

Soft dew coated the courtyard of Giles apartment building. May yawned tiredly; she had spent most of the night in Sunnydale University's Chem Lab whipping up several batches of webbing replenishing her diminished supplies.

She wondered how her father had ever managed to maintain his equipment when he was just a little older then she was now; living on his own, working, attending collage part time, and crime fighting.

May had just arrived back at 1630 Revello Drive when Giles called. She quickly answered the phone not wanting the insistent ringing to wake Mrs. Summers up. In a quiet hush she had quickly jumped down the Englishman's throat, berating him for calling at three thirty in the morning.

It hadn't been anything malicious on Giles part. The old man had simply been excited because he had found a spell that was capable of returning her to her home.

After agreeing to meet him in the morning, May had managed to get a few hours of fitful sleep. Some of the stories Spike told her had left her feeling antsy.

She knew he was a vampire; that tales of his evil hijinks were true, but her spider-sense didn't react to him as it had the other vampire. May knew she wouldn't be able to kill Spike, heck she knew she wouldn't be able to kill any vampire.

They might be dead and evil, but they were still sentient. If something could be done so they didn't need to kill people… and not what had been done to Spike. Change had to come about because people wanted to change, not because it was forced on them without consent or knowledge.

What the Initiative had done to Spike was a violation tantamount to rape.

May yawned again. She didn't want to think about anything vampirish, human vampire-relations, demonic, or military. She simply wanted to find out if Giles had a way to get her home. If he did then they needed to gather the necessary ingredients, and she would want to say her goodbyes, and get on with being sent home.

It had been five days since she arrived in Sunnydale. She couldn't believe that she had actually made a few friends that she was going to miss. Both Buffy and Mrs. Summers, Willow sort of… even Xander. The brunette was a goof, harmless for the most part. Anya she wouldn't mind seeing in her rearview mirror. They had gotten off on the wrong foot and stayed there.

May stepped up to Giles apartment and gave the heavy door several loud knocks. She looked at her watch and exhaled disgruntle. The one time she had come to Giles' apartment early in the morning the former librarian had just been returning from a morning run. Today she decided to wait another half hour before leaving and hoped he was already there.

Unfortunately her luck, like her powers, seemed to have been inherited directly from her father with very few alterations. She never would have expected her father to have as bad of luck as she did.

Because of Xander she had learned a lot about her father. Things her father never would have told her. Once she got back home she was going to have to ask him about Felicia Hardy. Until she had read it, May never would have believed he had been intimate with the Black Cat. That had just been way weird.

The door opened suddenly and May glanced up at Giles. "I thought it was you," he said and May couldn't tell if it was sullenness he was displaying or just typical British reserve. "You could have come in. I left the door unlocked."

May smiled playfully as she said, "Something you should have mentioned over the phone."

Giles didn't look away and his expression didn't change, but May thought he looked a little abashed as he said, "Possibly, but after last night I didn't think you would be remiss to try the door handle without prompting," with a hint of British humor.

"Ouch," May muttered with a small flinch. It wasn't like she didn't feel guilty about what she did last night, but it wasn't like her father was here to supply her with all the webbing she needed. Still she could already hear her father's voice if he ever found out. There would be a touch of disappointment in her even though he would say he understood. She stepped past Giles and into his apartment a little more forcefully then she intended and dropped her backpack off in his small foyer.

"Did everything go all right last night?" Giles asked as he closed the door.

"Splendidly," she replied with a forced accent. "How did Spike put it… Nicking the queens tea and crumpets at brunch?" She shrugged and added, "What ever that's supposed to mean."

"Knowing Spike," Giles started saying as he moved deeper into the apartment, "it could mean just about anything."

"That's about what I thought," she responded with a nod. "Giles… I know I can be a something of pain, but I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. I really appreciate it."

This time Giles does look down for a moment. He quickly looks back up catching her eye. "Before you start singing my praises there are a few things you should know."

May feels like a balloon that's just had all the air let out of her. "What is it?"

Giles cleared his throat slightly before he began with, "We found a spell that will send you back to your specific reality."

"You said that when you called," May cut in.

He bobbed his head saying, "I thought you would remember that. When we were going through the source material Xander and I came upon a… discrepancy."

"What discrepancy?" May asked with more then a hint of hostility. She quickly reigned herself with an apologetic, "Sorry."

A quick shake of his head told May, her apology wasn't necessary. "Your parents were Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker?"

"They got married in nineteen eighty-seven and have lived happily after, yadda, yadda, yadda."

"That's just it," Giles said with a touch of remorse filling his voice. "In everything we've read, Mary Jane married Peter Parker and the two did live happily for a time, they even conceived a child, but miscarried. Later after a brief separation your mother is believed to have been killed in a horrific plane crash. Although Xander and myself along with your father believe that she is still alive kidnapped by a stalker. Right now the plot line hangs in limbo and there isn't any mention of you, Willow's run an extensive search on the internet, but to no avail."

May let out a long breath. "Not as bad as it could've been," she murmured unconvincingly.

"I don't want you to think we've giving up…"

"I don't," May reassured him.

"We still have hundreds of leads that we still have to chase…"

"Down," May shouted. A canister shattered the pallor window; May reacted instinctively raising her hand. Her tactile telekinesis activated automatically shooting the canister back out the window, just as Giles hit the floor and the canister exploded with a thunderous roar and blinding light. _Shock grenade_. _If that had exploded inside_… "Upstairs!" May ordered as she jumped to retrieve her backpack.

The door burst open; a large man in military fatigues filled the doorway. He looked stunned at seeing her standing there. He reacted swiftly altering his aim.

Fast as he was May was faster, managing to grab the back pack and not be there when the muzzle of his gun got there. "Where the..."

"Yoo-woo," May called out from above him.

He looked up just in time to get hit in the face with May's foot. He flies back out the door as May flips in mid air.

She lands in a low crouch facing out the door. Eight soldiers were just outside the building, some were on the ground while others were closing rapidly on the apartment.

"Upstairs!" May shouted at Giles as she slammed the door close. Giles scrambled towards the stairs May slipped on her web shooters as she flipped backwards. She arced high into the air firing off several strands of webbing, sealing the door and barricading the window. She landed on the railing just as Giles reached the bottom step. "What kept you old timer," she joked playfully.

Giles opened his mouth to answer just as a heavy body slammed into the front door. He glanced at the door then back at May. "Trapped inside the flat with no way out, any more brilliant ideas."

May tugged her mask down. "Giles, look who you're talking to. I spend my week nights swinging between Skyscrapers. I think I can handle Sunnydale's five or six story buildings." She finished pulling her gloves on as she finished speaking.

"If you think I'm jumping out a window," Giles started as she jerked her sneakers off.

May shrugged as she said, "Suit yourself. Not like I can force you? Maybe you could interest them in some tea and crumpets."

Giles' face fell at May's words and tone; her attitude in general. He couldn't believe that May was just going to leave him to fend for himself.

May turned and started to move up the banister and then stopped and looked back at him. "I just remembered," she fired off a web strand that wrapped around his waist, "I can force you." She jerked and pulled him up, catching him with her fingertips. "Enjoy the ride," she said slinging him over her shoulder and bounding up the stairs.


	6. Chap 4: A Little Less Conversation pt2

Chapter Four: A Little Less Conversation – Part Two

* * *

The door to Giles' apartment hung partially open, squeaking as it swung back and forth in the cool afternoon air. The large front window was shattered, but had been walled off by thin strands of filament.

"May's webbing," Buffy murmured as she raced ahead of Riley. She kicked the front door open with little concern for what was on the other side. "Giles!"

She searched through the apartment at a frantic pace, downstairs then up. Nobody was inside the apartment. "Too late," she growled in frustration.

All night long they had been too late. Every one of her friends that she tried to call, she couldn't reach. Their phone lines were all mysteriously dead.

As much as Buffy hated sitting in the passenger seat of Riley's Hummer, it didn't matter if she could have covered the ground faster, she wasn't about to leave him alone. Not when all her friends were vanishing into thin air.

Nobody had been at Xander's house, but there had been signs of struggle. Nothing the casual observer would have seen, but both Riley and Buffy had noticed them.

Willow's house had been empty. To Buffy it felt deserted, but since Willow had started collage her parents spent a good deal of time out of the country. Working vacations was how Willow described them.

Buffy came down the stairs slower then she had ascended them. She stopped two thirds of the way down and simply observed Riley as he studied the webbing.

There was far more destruction in Giles apartment then there had been at either Willow or Xander's homes which told Buffy there had been a prolonged struggle here.

"We're too late," Buffy said into the silence. "They snagged Giles and May." Riley stood up as Buffy spoke. He turned, lifting his head slightly to look at her. "Just like Xander and his parents."

"I don't think so," Riley said once Buffy finished. "There's a lot of damage done here, but I think May and Giles got out before anybody got in. The window's been sealed with May's webbing preventing anybody from getting in that way and the door… They had to take the casing out as well because of how she sealed it. If you look most of the destruction is information gathering with some random acts of petty violence to let out a little the frustration."

"Frustration?"

Riley gave her a small, boyish grin as he said, "Frustration."

"Okay. May and Giles are safe," Buffy said with a frown. "Why does it feel like I'm missing something?" She inquired softly as she nibbled at her lower lip.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

Buffy shook her head as she said, "I don't…" Realization flashed in her eyes. "Mom," she whispered.

She vaulted the railing, soundlessly touched the floor and bolted towards the door like a rabbit that's been forced to break cover. Three steps out the door she's already doing fifty miles an hour, a dozen strides after that she's maintaining a speed that a cheetah would be hard press to match.

Riley burst through the door and spotted Buffy just as she cleared a twenty foot high chain link fence. She hit the ground at a flat out sprint and quickly vanished from sight.

"Holy," Riley breathed out in amazement. He had always known Buffy was special, but never imagined anything like what he just saw.

* * *

"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled irritably hearing the soft thunk of somebody landing on the roof of his crypt. He figured all the natives would have learnt by now to give his new digs a wide berth.

He smiled viciously as he clicks the off button on his remote. He admired their tenacity if not their intelligence.

The chair squeaked slightly as he rose to his feet, black duster setting around his lean shoulders, giving them the illusion of bulk. He pivoted on his right foot and is already striding forward when his door banged open and a beam of sunlight cut a swath through the room.

"Christ on a bloody cross," Spike snarled as he jumped away from the deadly ray.

"Sorry," May apologized as she bustled a reluctant watcher through the doorway before slamming the heavy door shut. She tugged off her mask and said, "I would've called first, but I didn't think you had a phone. Nice cable line though, perfect for trying to get by on the sly. Nobody would ever think to look for a vampire in the Crypt with," she picked up the remote and clicked the power button. Her eyes widened slightly at the British comedy skit flickered back on. "Monty Python? How cliché can you get?"

Spike glowered at her as he pulled his pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket. "Sod off you little tart, don't see me showing up all unannounced at your crypt and start… What the bloody hell you doing here anyway, not like anybody invited you over." He tossed a cigarette into his mouth.

"Um, actually you did," May pointed out delicately as Spike lit his cigarette. "Last night, you said I should drop by anytime. Although I have to point out you never did say where here was."

The orange amber glowed brilliantly for several seconds as Spike took a long draw. He plucked the cigarette from his mouth, flicked the ash on the floor, and asked, "If I never told you were my crypt was how'd you find me?"

"Spider tracer," May answered as she reached out and removed the little red, metallic spider effigy from his duster. "I figured it would cut down on running all over town trying to find you."

Spike flicked his spent cigarette against the wall. "That's all well and good," Spike said then pointed at Giles, "why'd you have to go and bring the Watcher?"

"The Initiative's after us," May said with a shrug, "I didn't think you'd mind taking in a few refugees."

A thin smile flittered across Spike's lips. A bit of laughter lit his eyes. "Captain Cardboard went and did you a solid?"

May looked at Spike clearly confused by what he just said. Instead she said, "There was a squad of soldiers that showed up at Giles' apartment. Buffy and Willow's dorm room was empty, looked like they left in a hurry. Mrs. Summers is missing; her jeep is in the driveway, signs of a struggle inside the house."

Spike's smile just grew bigger with every word May said. That was until she got to the part about Joyce being missing. He had always liked the Slayer's mum. She had a set of big, brass balls, and was willing to kill to protect her cub, like when she hit him over the head with an axe.

The woman also had a soft, compassionate side. She had sat there; an entire evening listening to him pour his heart out about Dru. His mug never lacked for her piping hot coco, or those little fluffy marshmallows.

Not for a single moment was Joyce afraid of him. There wasn't the slightest scent of fear on the woman until that Nancy boy poofter Angelus showed up on her doorstep. She was smart to be afraid of the Irish wanker. The man pilfered, defiled, and violated every woman he has ever come across. When he didn't kill them outright he left them feeling like a dirty little whore.

With or without his shiny little soul.

If the demon community was good for nothing else then it was good for gossip. And if he didn't hear enough about Angelus around the water cooler, then he could always try and decipher Miss Edith's little missives. Often enough they would revolve around Dru's demented daddy.

Spike shook off the thoughts that had been prancing around in his head. There were certain times to be imagining Angelus' gruesome demise, but this just wasn't one of them.

"The bloody Wankers took Joyce?" He growled.

"I believe that's what she just said," Giles remarked acerbically. The last place that he wanted to be was in Spike's crypt seeking sanctuary. Especially considering how some of their last meetings had gone.

Spike glared at May silently for a moment. "Joyce I'll help free of charge," his gaze shifted to Giles. An evil smirk played at the corner of his lips, "I'll even keep the watcher safe for the standard fee."

"You can be such a jerk," May snapped at Spike's child like behavior. "I'm asking for your help. If you can't do it fine. I need to find Buffy, Willow and the others and I can do it faster if I'm not lugging around a lot of dead weight. So, is Giles going to be safe here or are just going to turn your back?"


End file.
